ISLAMABAD – Pakistan, the country with over 200 universities, witnessed another disappointing academic record as country’s top university barely made it into 701–800 range in the 2025 Shanghai Ranking Academic Ranking of World Universities.
As public and private institutions are making waves about their achievements, in research and other sectors, the latest ranking shows decades of underperformance despite billions in public funding.
Only four universities from South Asian nation were in the global 700–1000 bracket. University of the Punjab, Islamia University of Bahawalpur, and University of Lahore were all ranked 901–1000, showing just how far Pakistan lags behind its neighbors.
COMSATS’ strongest areas were Mathematics (101–150), Civil Engineering (151–200), and Metallurgical Engineering (151–200). But even these achievements could not lift it into the world’s top 700, a stark contrast to countries like China and India, where multiple universities are now in the top 200.
Those looking closely at this trend lamented Higher Education Commission (HEC) inefficiency, political interference, and misplaced priorities as HEC keeps citing more publications as progress, but the real quality of research remains below par. The few universities that do make it into rankings succeed because of individual departments, not systemic reform.
With the country’s top university ranking after top 700, Pakistan’s higher education system needs a boost to compete on global stage with stern reforms needed.
Shanghai Rankings 2025
| Rank | Institution |
| 1 | Harvard University |
| 2 | Stanford University |
| 3 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 4 | University of Cambridge |
| 5 | University of California, Berkeley |
| 6 | University of Oxford |
| 7 | Princeton University |
| 8 | Columbia University |
| 9 | California Institute of Technology |
| 10 | University of Chicago |
| 11 | Yale University |
| 12 | Cornell University |
| 13 | Paris-Saclay University |
| 14 | University College London |
| 14 | University of Pennsylvania |
| 16 | University of California, Los Angeles |
| 17 | University of Washington |
| 18 | Tsinghua University |
| 19 | Johns Hopkins University |
| 20 | University of California, San Diego |
| 21 | University of California, San Francisco |
| 22 | ETH Zurich |
| 23 | Peking University |
| 24 | Zhejiang University |
| 25 | University of Toronto |
| 26 | Imperial College London |
| 26 | Washington University in St Louis |
| 28 | New York University |
| 29 | Rockefeller University |
| 30 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University |
New List of Top Pakistani Universities in QS World University Rankings 2026
