The Higher Education World University Rankings 2025 looked at more than 2,000 universities across 115 countries. Together, ranked schools number around 9.7 per cent more this year. Pakistani institutions claim 47 spots in the ranking, making Pakistan the 14th most-represented nation in the world, after Taiwan. Quaid-i-Azam University has entered its rank, which is in the 401-500 band, maintaining it at last year’s position.

Eight of the universities in Pakistan fell within the 601-800 rank, including the University of Malakand, which made progress from 801-1,000 ranks, while Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan slipped to one-tier. Sukkur IBA University first made it into the ranking this year, dropping into the 601-800 category. In Pakistan, only seven institutes gained ranks, while ten lost rankings.

It features every institution of learning from all continents of the world, and it was within this ranking that Oxford University took its seventh consecutive year at the top. However, many contenders are vying with Oxford, and these institutions include MIT and Harvard. Other universities which eventually reached the top of the scale were Princeton, Cambridge, and Stanford, although the rankings differed by a little.

Asia hosts 853 universities from 35 countries, with Pakistan ranked sixth in terms of representation. What makes the rankings for 2025 distinct from all previous ones is the approach taken to comprehensiveness in their assessment, focusing on 18 performance indicators, including teaching, research, and international collaboration.

A total of 2,860 institutions provided data for the 2025 rankings, a 6.9 per cent increase from last year. The 2025 rankings are the most comprehensive and diverse to date. This is, in a way, a reflection of the emerging increase in global competition among research universities. With such scope and methodology, the World University Rankings 2025 continue to represent one of the most critical benchmarking tools in the academic world.

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