ISLAMABAD – A total of 99 Pakistani universities have made it to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2026, highlighting the country’s growing presence in global academia. Out of these, 48 institutions earned ranked positions, while the rest hold “Reporter” status for their participation in the evaluation.
Quaid-i-Azam University leads Pakistan with a ranking in the 401–500 range, followed by Air University, COMSATS, NUST, and Bahauddin Zakariya University in the 601–800 band.
The University of Oxford retained its world No. 1 position for the tenth consecutive year, while Princeton University achieved a record-high joint third place. China and India also saw remarkable gains, with India becoming the second most-represented country after the United States.
The rankings feature 2,191 universities from 115 countries, reaffirming THE’s role as one of the most trusted measures of global higher education excellence.
