Islamabad:February 25:Pakistan is leading the Muslim world with the announcement of first-ever universities ranking by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) at par with the international standards according to which Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) wins the top honour.

No Muslim country has ever conducted the universities ranking before. According to HEC ranking in overall Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of Pakistan on the basis of quality teaching and research, QAU has bagged first while Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIES) achieved second and Agha Khan University, Karachi achieved third position.

University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, got fourth; University of Punjab, Lahore, got fifth; National University of Science and Technology (NUST) achieved sixth; Pir Meher Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University achieved seventh; University of Health Sciences, Lahore, achieved eighth; COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) achieved ninth and Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, achieved 10th position in overall universities ranking.

The number of initiatives taken by QAU in the recent past as shared by its Vice Chancellor Dr Masoom Yasinzai included the massive increase in its research productivity, induction of fresh blood purely on merit comprising 70 PhDs returning from technologically advanced countries, establishment of Saulat Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Research, extension of Department of Economics and departments of management sciences, affiliation of Islamabad Model/post-graduate colleges with QAU, increasing the number of students being admitted in various departments and further expansion in terms of introduction of new schools such as school of politics and international relations school of Law and school of culture.

The primary purpose of the ranking exercise is to share with the general public a comprehensive data on the key issues that determines the state of higher education in a particular institution. Institutions established after December 2008 as well as distance education universities are excluded from the ranking lists.

The category wise rankings of the universities were also announced on the occasion in which eight categories included agriculture/veterinary, art and design, computer sciences and IT, engineering and technology, general universities (large), general universities (other), business education and medical.

The sector-wise sorting has not been done to provide equal reflection to both the public and private sector institutions. According to HEC officials, universities can only be comparable within the assigned category, comparisons to be made among different categories based on the above list will not be logical.

The top five universities (1 to 5) in agriculture and veterinary included University of Agriculture, Faisalabad; Pir Meher Ali Shah-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi; University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore; KPK Agriculture University, Peshawar, and Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam.The news.