Quaid-i-Azam University leads Pakistan in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027, securing a place in the 551–600 band.
Pakistan has 108 institutions represented across ranked and “Reporter” categories. The supplied list includes 56 universities with ranking bands and 52 with Reporter status, which carries no numerical position.
Globally, THE ranked 2,297 universities across 118 countries and territories, up from 2,191 institutions in the previous edition.
Islamabad universities lead Pakistan
The National University of Sciences and Technology follows QAU in the 601–650 band. COMSATS University Islamabad ranks third nationally, occupying the 651–700 bracket.
Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, the University of Agriculture Faisalabad and the University of Lahore share the 701–800 band.
Another 16 Pakistani universities occupy the 801–1000 bracket. These include Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Air University, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute, Iqra University and the University of the Punjab.
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Fourteen institutions feature in the 1001–1200 group, including LUMS, Sukkur IBA University, Riphah International University and the University of Peshawar.
Seven universities occupy the 1201–1400 band, including Bahria University and UET Lahore. Five institutions each appear in the 1401–1600 and 1601–1800 brackets.
The latter includes BUITEMS, Dow University of Health Sciences, National Textile University and the University of Karachi.
Khyber Medical University and NED University occupy the 1801–2000 band. The National University of Medical Sciences appears in the 2001+ category.
What Reporter status means
Reporter institutions submit data but fail to meet all requirements for an official ranking. Pakistani examples include SZABIST University, Ziauddin University, King Edward Medical University and the University of Balochistan.
Eligibility requirements cover undergraduate teaching, research output and subject breadth. THE’s publication threshold covers around 1,000 relevant publications during 2021–2025, with an annual minimum of 100.
Institutions concentrating more than 80% of their publications in one subject area can also face exclusion.
THE uses 17 weighted indicators across five pillars. Research quality contributes 30%, teaching 29.5%, research environment 29%, international outlook 7.5% and industry 4%.
The measures examine citations, research influence, reputation, staffing, doctoral activity, income, international collaboration and patents.
For 2027, THE publishes individual positions and precise overall scores for the top 300. Universities below that threshold occupy bands, with institutions inside each band sharing the same position.
Oxford stays first as Asia advances
Oxford retained first place for an eleventh consecutive year, finishing just 0.1 points ahead of second-placed MIT.
Princeton and Stanford share third place. Cambridge ranks fifth, followed by Harvard, the California Institute of Technology and Imperial College London.
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The University of California, Berkeley and Yale share ninth place.
China’s Tsinghua University climbed to eleventh, becoming Asia’s highest-ranked institution and overtaking continental Europe’s leader, ETH Zurich.
Peking University ranked thirteenth, while the National University of Singapore reached fifteenth. This put three Asian universities in the global top 15 for the first time.
