QAU top in HEC’s yearly rankings

Iqra University tops business category,

AKUH country’s best medical varsity, NUST secures first spot in engineering schools

Karachi

Out of 73 higher education institutions in the general category, the Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) has topped the rankings issued by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Tuesday, followed by University of Punjab and National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) in second and third place, respectively.

The top three were followed by University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Aga Khan University, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Karachi, University of Health Sciences Lahore, and University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences.

“The ranking was carried out under various categories including engineering and technology, business education, agriculture and veterinary, medical, and arts and design,” said HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, while announcing the rankings.

According to Dr Ahmad, the major criteria for evaluation of universities were quality assurance, teaching quality, research, finance and facilities, and social integration/ community development.

Speaking on the objectives and methodology of the ranking, he said the rankings were based on the data collected during 2013-14, adding that HEC verified and counter-checked the data from all the universities before compiling the final ranking.

He added 129 universities were reviewed for ranking, while 66 parameters were adopted for scoring, further adding, distance learning institutions and the HEIs established after June 2010 were not included in the ranking. 

Agro, veterinary sciences

The University of Agriculture of Faisalabad has topped the list for agriculture and veterinary sciences category, followed by University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences of Lahore, Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam, and Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences. 

Business studies

Iqra University Karachi, was accorded the highest rank in the business category, followed by Lahore School of Economics, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Institute of Management Science Peshawar, Sukkur Institute of Business Administration, Szabist, The Superior College Lahore, Institute of Business Management Karachi, University of Central Punjab Lahore, Greenwich University, Karachi.

Arts 

Of the two universities offering courses for arts, the HEC has awarded National College of Arts (NCA) the first rank, followed by Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture.

Medical

Aga Khan University secured the top slot among universities falling under the medial category. The University of Health Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences, Khyber Medical University Peshawar were on the second, third and fourth position respectively, in the list of as many as 13 universities. 

Engineering 

In the engineering category, comprising 21 universities, NUST and PIEAS retained first and second position respectively, followed by Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Science and Technology and Institute of Space Technology Islamabad.