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LAHORE, Jun 05 (APP):The QS World University Rankings on Wednesday declared Punjab University (PU) as the most-improved university in Asia in the last five years, a moment of pride for Pakistan.
On behalf of the PU, Pakistan Embassy officials Bilal Akram Shah and Bilal Riaz received the prestigious award in EduData Summit, held in Washington DC, organised by the QS World University Rankings. PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood along with PU Ranking Committee Chairman Dr Usman Awan and Secretary Dr Shafiqur Rahman held a press briefing at the University Club.
Talking to the media, Dr Mahmood said that the PU competed with all universities from Asian giant economies like Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore and India. He said that budgets of these universities were manifolds as compared to the PU budget but even then, PU had received “Best Improved Institution – Asia region award” for last five years.
The VC said that QS team had recently analysed the reputation and research output of 5,663 higher education institutions to rank 1,503 adding in the latest QS World University Ranking, PU had been ranked at 570, with an unprecedented jump of 170 positions.
He said last year, PU ranking was 740-750 and from 2019-2022 this ranking was in the range of 800-1,000.
Dr Mahmood congratulated faculty, staff and students for this great success. He said that the news may change the landscape of higher education in Pakistan.
Dr Khalid said that the news had ignited the hope that determination and consistency can enable any university to raise at the global stage even with meagre financial resources.
He briefed about all the steps taken by PU Ranking Committee in last six years. He said that 14 higher education institutions had been ranked this year from Pakistan.
The VC said that during the period 8,637 Scopus indexed papers had been published with PU affiliation. He said that for citations, data of last six years had been used and number of normalised citations from PU research work is 85,554.
Dr Mahmood said that in Employment Outcome indicator, PU stood 118 in the world and in employment reputation indicator, PU stood 162nd in the world and in Academic reputation indicator, PU stood 566 in the world.
The vice chancellor highly appreciated the efforts done by university ranking committee comprising young professors under the chairmanship of Prof Dr Muhammad Usman Awan.
Chairman Ranking Committee Prof. Dr Muhammad Usman Awan mentioned that satisfaction of renowned academics and employers, continuous increase in Scopus indexed research publications and citations, learning experience of the students, global engagement and sustainability had contributed in this success.
He claimed that in coming years if government provides significant funds to PU, this University had capability to be ranked in QS Top 300 Universities in next four years.