Pakistan leads South Asia in university rankings 2023

Pakistan has surpassed India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in the South Asian area, with more universities appearing in Times Higher Education's Asia University Rankings 2023.

According to the UK-based organization, the number of South Asian universities in the top 200 has reached a five-year high.

This year, 32 universities from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are among the top 200, up from 24 in 2022 and higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, when 25 South Asian colleges made the cut.

"Pakistan leads the charge, with 10 universities in the top 200 this year, up from six last year," the blog stated.

The highest-ranking institution in Pakistan is Quaid-i-Azam University, which rose from 116th to 98th place. University of Management and Technology, Government College University Faisalabad, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, and others are among the other universities.

For the first time, the top 200 list includes two Bangladeshi institutions: the University of Dhaka, which moves up from the 251-300 band to 186th position, and North South University, which was not placed last year and is now 192nd.

India, which has typically contributed more to the top 200 rankings than its neighbors, had only a minor increase in participation in this year's league tables, with 18 universities - one more than last year. Meanwhile, the Indian Institute of Science has dropped to 48th place, its lowest rating since 2015, when it initially entered the index.

Further north, Iran improved dramatically in this year's rankings, with 65 universities ranked in 2023, up from 58 last year, and nine institutions ranked in the top 100, three more than last year.

THE's Asia University Rankings employ the same 13 performance metrics as the World University Rankings but are calibrated to suit the characteristics of Asian universities.