LAHORE: Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan announced on Monday the 5th Ranking of Pakistani Higher Education Institutions for 2013-2014 with an aim to boost academic and research culture among Pakistani universities and encourage them to compete internationally. HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad announced the ranking during a press conference at the Commission Secretariat. Dr G Raza Bhatti, Acting Executive Director HEC, Dr Qasim Jan, former vice chancellor QAU, Dr Mazhar Saeed, DG (P&D) and Ahmad Yahya Khan, DG (Statistics) were also present on the occasion. The ranking was given under various categories, including engineering and technology, business education, agriculture and veterinary, medical, and arts & design. The major criteria for evaluation of universities were quality assurance, teaching quality, research, finance and facilities, and social integration/community development. Quaid-I-Azam University Islamabad topped the overall ranking list, followed by University of the Punjab Lahore, National University of Sciences and Technology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Aga Khan University, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), University of Karachi, University of Health Sciences Lahore, and University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore. Under the Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences category, University of Agriculture Faisalabad has topped the list followed by University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, and Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences. Iqra University Karachi has topped the business category. The university is followed by Lahore School of Economics, Institute of Business Administration Karachi, Institute of Management Science Peshawar, Sukkur Institute of Business Administration, SZABIST, The Superior College Lahore, Institute of Business Management Karachi, University of Central Punjab Lahore, Greenwich University, Karachi and others. Under the arts category, National College of Arts (NCA) Lahore remained at the top, followed by Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture Karachi. Aga Khan University is the top scorer among universities falling under the medical category. University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi, Khyber Medical University Peshawar were on the second, third and fourth position respectively in the list of as many as 13 universities. The ranking also covered the engineering category comprising 21 universities with National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) followed by Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS) Islamabad, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Science and Technology Topi, and Institute of Space Technology Islamabad. As many as 73 higher education institutions have made their place in the general category with QAU, Islamabad; PU, Lahore; COMSATS, Islamabad; KU; PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi; Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore; Government College University, Faisalabad; and University of Peshawar on the top. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad briefed the media about objectives and methodology of the ranking. He said that the ranking is based on the data collected during 2013-14, adding that HEC verified and counter-checked the data from all the universities before compiling the final ranking. He said that 129 universities were reviewed for ranking, while 66 parameters were adopted for scoring. He said that distance learning institutions and the HEIs established after June 2010 were not included in the ranking. He said HEC will start working on the ranking for 2015 in March.