Pakistan has failed to place any university among the world’s top 350 institutions in the QS World University Rankings 2027 released by the renowned global higher education ranking agency QS.
According to the latest rankings, even the country’s highest-ranked universities were unable to maintain their positions achieved last year. The Quaid-e-Azam University, which was ranked 354th in the previous edition, slipped to 381st place, while the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) dropped from 371st to 384th position.
However, some institutions recorded notable improvements. The Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS) climbed significantly from 721st place last year to 560th in the latest rankings. The University of Agriculture Faisalabad improved from 654th to 629th position, while COMSATS University Islamabad moved up from 664th to 639th place.
Among other universities, the University of the Punjab fell from 542nd to 588th position, while Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) dropped from 555th to 608th place. The rankings placed Government College University Faisalabad at 691st position, the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, in the 791-800 band, and both Aga Khan University and the University of Peshawar in the 951-1000 category.
Bahauddin Zakariya University and the University of Lahore were ranked in the 1001-1200 band. The University of Karachi, Riphah International University, and the University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, were placed in the 1201-1400 category, while the International Islamic University Islamabad and the Islamia University of Bahawalpur appeared in the 1401+ band.
The rankings also highlighted a regional disparity in higher education performance. Karachi University was the only university from Sindh to secure a place among the world’s top 1,500 institutions. No university from Balochistan managed to feature in the rankings.
The QS World University Rankings evaluate institutions on a range of indicators, including academic reputation, employer reputation, research impact, faculty-student ratio, internationalization, and sustainability performance.
