ISLAMABAD: The National University of Science and Technology (Nust) has made it to the top 500 in the QS World University Rankings, the highest ranking for a Pakistani varsity this year.

The QS rankings are considered among the most authentic, alongside the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

In its latest rankings, the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) improved its position, the Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) maintained its ranking, while the University of Engineering Technology (UET) in Lahore, University of Karachi and University of Lahore witnessed a decline in their rank.

This year, Nust is also placed at 112th among Asian universities. Neighbouring India, however, has several universities among Asia`s top 100.

The QS world ranking reveled that Nust, which was ranked 501 in the world over the past two years, has now reached the 431-mark.

QAU, which placed at 651 in 2016 and slid to 701 in 2017,has climbed back to 651 in 2018.

UET Lahore, which scored a consistent 701 rank in 2016-17, dropped 100 places to 801 in the latest rankings. The University of Karachi and University of Lahore also suffered a similar fate. It is interesting to note that none of the 177 other Pakistani universities are ranked on the QS rankings.

QS evaluates universities based on six indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty students ratio, citation per faculty, international faculty ratio and inter-national students ratio.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has been has been receiving significant funding for the past five years, and in the currently proposed budget, the government has allocated over 90 billion rupees for higher education.

But despite all this, Pakistani universities do not seem to be making progress.

HEC Chairman Dr Mul(htar Ahmed told Dawn he was happy to see NUST among the top 500 universities of the world.

`Special measures are being put in place to improve the higher education sector, but in these rankings, two of our universities made good progress, he said, but was quick to add that these ranking could not show the absolute performance of these universities. Rather, they highlight certain indicators.

Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Vice Chancellor Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad said there were various reasons behind the dismal performance of Pakistani universities when compared to other universities in Asia and around the world.`Unfortunately, there is no focus on research and development in Pakistani universities. Faculty shortages, budget constraints and a lack of focus on specialised subjects are the main reasons behind the poor rankings,` he said.

`Universities should focus on their specialised subjects, like Lums has a good name in management studies and it sticks to its strength. But other universities are heading towards generalisation, which is not good sign,` he said. He said the country was churning out PhDs without assessing the needs of the market. `Recently, some jobless PhDs staged a demonstration to press the government for jobs,` hesaid, explaining how bad things had become for academics in Pakistan.

Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, who also teaches at QAU, echoed Mr Ahmad`s opinion about the lack of focus on research and development.

`QAU, which is the top-ranl(ed university in the country according to HEC, has not received a single research grant from the government over the past few months. This is an indication that the government is not paying any heed towards research, he said.

He said it was painful to see only one Pakistani university among the top 500, at a time when India and smaller countries such as Singapore had grabbed several positions.