The recently released Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2026 have reminded us of both progress and paralysis within our higher education system.
The 2026 THE rankings included 2,191 universities from 115countries, assessed through 18 indicators across five major rubrics: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry engagement, and international outlook. India has the second-highest number of ranked universities, behind only the US. Whereas Pakistan had 48 universities ranked in THE, it was behind many, not just its peers in India.
Quaid-e-Azam University retained its position in the 401-500 band, while improving its overall score to 46.2-49.8, with a remarkable 84.7% in research quality. It remains Pakistan’s highest-ranked university, an extraordinary feat considering its limited resources.
The long-held assumption that LUMS is the uncontested leader of excellence has been challenged.
The upward trajectory of several universities, especially, Air University, Bahauddin Zakariya University, COMSATS, GCU Faisalabad, NUST, IBA Sukkur, University of Lahore, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, reflects resilience and quiet reform.
The long-held assumption that LUMS is the uncontested leader of excellence has been challenged. The University of Lahore, Capital University of Science and Technology, and Iqra University have performed better than LUMS on several indicators. Even more notable is the University of Management and Technology, which now outpaces most private universities in research quality.
Universities like Riphah International University are also showing promising progress, demonstrating that internal reform with a focus on teaching, publication, and international collaboration can produce measurable results even in the absence of large-scale funding.
These gains, though modest in global terms, matter deeply for a country where higher education has often been an afterthought in national budget and policy.
Interestingly, there are universities like Punjab University that perform better in the QS ranking than THE. In the 2025 QS rankings, Quaid-e-Azam University was placed at rank 315, followed by NUST at 353, LUMS at 535, and Punjab University in the 570-600 range. By 2026, QAU slightly declined to 354, NUST to 371, and LUMS to 555, while Punjab University improved its position from 570 to 532.
The overall representation of Pakistan remained limited to 18 universities in the QS global list 2026, compared to India’s 54, Iran’s 11, and China’s more than 70 institutions in the top 500. Many Indian and Chinese universities rank within the top 200. Do we want to compete with India in higher education, too?
The gap between Pakistani universities and their regional peers is not merely numerical but structural. Indian universities have developed sustained ecosystems of research collaboration, industry linkages, and international exchange. Pakistani universities, in contrast, often work in isolation, constrained by bureaucratic bottlenecks and unpredictable funding. The result is a limited global footprint, particularly in areas such as citations per faculty, employer reputation, and international research networks. These are key indicators that drive institutional prestige.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan was once a symbol of academic transformation, especially under the leadership of Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, who inspired universities to improve faculty qualifications, research infrastructure, and international partnerships. Today, however, the HEC appears caught between bureaucracy and irrelevance. If we are not wrong, it seems to function more as a post office.
The Commission’s role must go far beyond regulation. It should act as a strategic enabler, helping universities align their goals with THE and QS performance indicators. For this, the HEC needs to establish a National Ranking Task Force to guide universities in understanding and responding to global ranking metrics. HEC should fund research mobility and collaboration programs while encouraging joint publications, open-access dissemination, and participation in international research networks. Building digital infrastructure is also essential to ensure data transparency and accurate reporting on citations, research output, and employment outcomes. At the same time, the HEC must invest in training staff in ranking literacy, while equipping them on how to use data analytics and AI tools to monitor institutional progress.
The process of appointing vice-chancellors must be reformed to value merit, experience, and vision rather than political loyalty. HEC must appoint vice-chancellors with a clear roadmap for leading a university. Without HEC’s strategic leadership, institutions will continue to climb, but only inch by inch.
HEC must rediscover its purpose, of course, not as a gatekeeper but as a guide. It should help universities build the ladders they have so long climbed without any support. If Pakistan’s higher education sector can merge the perseverance of its institutions with the vision of an empowered commission, the dream of seeing a Pakistani university in the world’s top 200 may no longer seem distant. Universities are not merely teaching institutions, they are engines of innovation, policy formation, diplomacy, and national identity. A robust higher education sector signals to the world that a country is ready to compete intellectually and economically. Such a system will eventually provide hope to the youth and deter the growing brain drain from Pakistan.
When regional peers like India advance in global rankings, they attract international students, research funding, and academic partnerships. Pakistan, by contrast, risks remaining on the sidelines of this knowledge economy. Its universities must not only catch up but eventually outpace their regional counterparts, not out of pride but out of necessity.
Pakistani universities are rising despite neglect, but resilience alone cannot take them to the top. It is time those at the helm make higher education a national priority, not an afterthought in the annual budget. They have learned to rise without support, imagine how high they would soar with it.
The first author is a Professor of English at Riphah International University, Lahore. He is a lead guest editor at Emerald and Springer publishing.
The second author is an Assistant Professor of English at Govt. Graduate College for Women, Samanabad, Lahore