The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has issued a ranking of the Pakistani Universities and Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) for the year 2015. The ranking has been done in different categories namely;
- Overall Top 10 HEIs of the country
- General
- Engineering & Technology
- Business Education
- Agriculture & Veterinary
- Medical
- Arts & Design
Purpose and Objective of HEC Rankings of Pakistani Universities
The ranking of the Pakistani Universities and Higher Educational Institutions is done by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan with the intent to promote a culture of competition and improve their participation in the socio-economic development of the country.
HEC keeps in view certain criteria to maintain objectivity in determining these rankings. This criteria includes allotting scores to the universities and HEIs based on their reports and performance for;
- Quality Assurance (15 Marks)
- Teaching Quality (30 Marks)
- Research (41 Marks)
- Finance & Facilities (10 Marks)
- Social Integration / Community Development (4 Marks)
The details of this ranking criteria is available at the HEC website.
Criticism / Expert Reservations on HEC Ranking
Experts are of the view that flaws exist in the ranking criteria designed by HEC, because it offers no weightage to certain performance measuring parameters such as employability of graduates produced, perception of students and employers and the international outlook of the institution(s).
Another strong reservations raised is that HEC should not be ranking the Higher Educational Institutions of Pakistan at all, as HEC is the funding source of Public Sector Universities and therefore according to proponents of this view; it cannot maintain neutrality in ranking the institutions. This task rather could be done by a neutral body as is the practice globally (Times Higher Education World University Rankings and Maclean's University Rankings of Canada).
