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.
Adnan,
There is one more university in Peshawar with the name CECOS University, which boasts of both “in-land” and overseas campuses. I tried to figure out what the acronym CECOS stood for but could not find any explanation in the write-up except that at places the name is further abbreviated to CU, which again means CECOS University.
CECOS’ vision, typed in a font size 4 or even smaller, reads as follows (I have abridged it):
[quote]”Since last 16 years, we are in tune with education …Founded on the richness of conversation (sic) and the power of collaboration, our vibrant community is sustained through the practice of … The student’s exchange with the facility (sic) is open and energizing, their interaction with colleagues engaging and dynamic. .. They are inspired to think more strategically and analyze more critically. And at the same time, they contribute to the growth of their peers through discussions and teaming.” [quote ]
The unabridged version is heavily cliched and sonorous, and is guaranteed to put even a chronic insomniac to sleep.
MQ, That was good! :) Superior university stands out in your list. :):)
How many universities are there in Pakistan? Is the university system in Pakistan like the one in England (that India inherited and continues to follow) i.e. of universities as primarily post-graduate institutions (masters/doctoral studies) with undergraduate education provided by affiliated colleges*? Or is it like the American system, where universities are non-affiliating, self-contained institutions comprising all levels from undergraduation to doctoral studies.
Has there been an increase in the number of universities in recent days?
Are universities primarily in the state sector or in the private sector? A related question is whether Govt. sector or private sector institutions are considered better?
What is the basis for admissions at these institutes?
Sridhar
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*The exceptions in India are the specialized technical institutes like the IITs and a few other engineering-oriented institutions which are given the status of ‘deemed’ universities and have undergraduate studies, but cannot affiliate colleges. There are also two other pre-independence exceptions that follow the American system- the Aligarh Muslim University and Benaras Hindu University.
This post and the comments led me to look up the HEC website for the first time, which in turn made me look up all the ‘chartered’ universities in Pakistan. Much more than their number (which seems to have increased many folds in the past 5-10 years) what struck me was the names of some these institutions of higher learning. Strange names, some of them, and curious descriptions of their visions and other details.
There is Superior University in Lahore whose website boasts: “Getting chartered by the Government of Punjab as Degree Awarding Institute is a unique honor for Superior University. Several other institutions had applied for the same status but are struggling since long. Superior infrastructure attracted and satisfied the Punjab Government Higher Education Department as per their standards and requirements and finally we got it (Alhamdulillah).”
Then there is a Preston University in Kohat. Apparently there is no such person as Mr. Preston associated with the university in any capacity. They just picked up the name, it seems, from the basket. Is it because it sounds like Princeton?
Then there is NICE University. The acronym stands for Newports or Newport (the website uses both) Institute of Communications and Economics. What’s its connection with Newport, anywhere, one can’t figure out.
Then we have University of East in Hyderabad! (Go figure it out for yourself.)
We also have Air University in Islamabad. In Urdu it would probably translate into Hawaii University?
And then we have this university called GIFT that boasts to be the only university between Lahore and Islamabad. GIFT stands for — alvipervaiz would like this — Gujranwala Institute of Future Technologies. According to the website the university was conceived by Mr. Muhammad Anwar Dar and “The ground-breaking ceremony of the campus was performed by an eminent personality of Gujranwala Haji Aziz-ur-Rehman on 11th August 2001.” The university’s boast of being the only the university between Lahore and Islamabad, however, turns out to be false because, according to the HEC list, there is also a University of Gujrat barely 60 or 70 miles up the road.
NUST H12 Master Plan; http://www.nust.edu.pk/images/NUST MASTER PLAN NewII.jpg [NUST H12 Master Plan;
(http://www.nust.edu.pk/images/NUST%20MASTER%20PLAN%20NewII.jpg)
A university with a golf course. That’s a first in Pakistan?
Eat your heart out UET, NED, Giki.
An interesting point for me is NUST is now above GIK among Engineering Universities. GIK was established as a de-facto center of excellence but it has fallen down to # 3.
Good analysis, Sridhar.
Folks, How about the idea of linking existing universities with the ones in the developed world, America to be specific. Help can be sought from universities willing to help. I am a great admirer of American liberal arts school of teaching where regardless of your major you have to take core courses in philosophy, art, literature, history, etc. for they complete the college education experience. And then of course there is the culture of research in grad schools; how it is conducted by the faculty and the students. In my opinion a below average school down south, lets say Alabama is still better than most in Europe and Australia. (On a tangent, this years Nobel winners should also indicate which country HEC should turn for help). It sounds good (and indeed it is a sound byte) when HEC minister says that help is being sought from France, Japan, Austria etc. for new institutions but how about the existing ones. And what would they end up with w/ so many different styles of education.
Sridhar, Pakistan may have had more than a handful of good schools had they not been nationalized in the 70s. That one stroke of pen did more damage to pakistan than everything else combined.