Owais Mughal
Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has recently released the university rankings of Pakistan. The rankings are generating so much interest that I am receiving four to five emails daily with people forwarding me the same link to HEC’s ranking web page. (Scroll down to see rankings and details).
I am kind of disappointed with my alma-mater, NED University of Engineering and Technology Karachi, ranked at number 10 out of the 13 Engineering Universities of Pakistan. The photo to the right-below shows few views of NED University.
I genuinely and of course with a little bias think that NED university should have been ranked among the top 3. When I make such claim; I do it on the basis of sheer engineering talent I’ve personally seen at NED. But rankings do not take into account the student talent. They look at finances, faculty, number of students etc. My university mates as well as the university officials have already started the discussion on how to improve the rankings next year. This discussion is going on at many NED online alumni groups. I am sure similar discussions are going on within other university alumni too. This I think, is a positive sign of publishing a list like this as it does create competition.
Here are the key leaders in the ranking:
Agriculture / Veterinary
1. University of Agriculture (UAF), Faisalabad
2. NWFP University of Agriculture , Peshawar
3. University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi
4. Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam
Art / Design
1. National College of Arts, Lahore
2. Textile Institute of Pakistan, Karachi
3. Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture, Karachi
Business / I.T.
1. Lahore Uni. of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore
2. Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi
3. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Sci. & Tech. Karachi
4. Iqra University, Defence View, Karachi
5. Lahore School of Economics (LSE) , Lahore
6. Institute of Business Management (IBM), Karachi
Engineering
1. Pakistan Institute of Engg. and Applied Sciences, Islamabad
2. National University of Sciences & Technology Rawalpindi
3. Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering, Swabi
4. University of Engg. & Technology (UET), Lahore
5. Mehran University of Engg. & Technology (MUET), Jamshoro
6. University of Engg. & Technology (UET), Taxila
General
1. Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Islamabad
2. University of the Punjab, Lahore
3. University of Karachi, Karachi
4. University of Peshawar, Peshawar
5. Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan
6. Government College Lahore University, Lahore
Health Sciences
1. Aga Khan University, Karachi
2. Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro
3. Baqai Medical University, Karachi
4. Zia-ud-din Medical University, Karachi
You can have a look at the complete rankings, including the scores, the criteria and the methodology of scoring here. I would like to hear your opinion.
ATP’s another post related to University Education and rankings system can be seen here.
Good comments, Riaz M. And nice to see you here.
In following what I said above, Saad Mufti adds:
“I always felt NEDians prospered despite NED, not because of it. The only credit I wouold give NED would be for providing the opportunity to be around other NEDians.“
A fundamental question here: is a university defined by its facilities or the quality of student it attracts or graduates?
In the US, top universities provide the best facilities to attract the best students however in the case of a country like Pakistan, that is not always true. For example, going back to the 80’s, NED was the ONLY option for most of the top class students of Karachi whose parents couldn’t afford a foreign education for their children. The facilities were not existent but we had great students who have gone on to achieve success professionally all over the world. A university does not make an average student smarter but it does provide the tools for a smart student to shine and do great things.
So if GIK was set up to be a “center of excellenceâ€
A good friend of mine has forwarded me this thought provoking article from Jang. It is about HEC: here
I am a Dowite, and I can say with a great degree of confidence that DOW should definitely not be in the top 5. The classes and teachers who had any influence on my future development as a physician can be counted on the fingers of one hand…. and this in 5 years!
AKU is by far the best institution in health sciences. Their graduates are well-rounded and well-trained. And surprise, surprise, can even put together a coherent resume. This is not to say that DOW graduates have not done well for themselves; but if they have, it speaks more for them than their university.
In fact, more than medical stuff, I remember slogans from my DOW days. My favorite was:
na surkh hai, na sabz hai
asia ko qabz hai
I find at least some of this funny. So those of you who are proud of your university because it comes at top, would you NOT be proud if it did not? And those of you whose univeristies are not in the top, are you no longer proud of your alma matter. Should’nt your pride be based on your experience and your attachment rather than some ranking. Isn’t it a little shallow to take these so seriously?