Lahore: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has been ranked in the top 700 medical universities of the world in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by subject. UHS is the first medical university in Punjab that has been included in the world ranking.
“University of Health Sciences, Lahore in Pakistan has been named as one of the world’s top universities, according to the latest edition of the world’s most-consulted university ranking. University of Health Sciences, Lahore’s best performance is in Medicine”, read a statement issued from the QS head office in London on Thursday.
In a certificate issued by QS Senior Vice-President Ben Sowter, the UHS ranking number in the World Ranking by Subject (Medicine) is 651- 670. UHS is the third medical university in Pakistan, after Aga Khan Medical University Karachi and Dow Medical University Karachi, to be included in the international ranking of higher education institutions. Earlier, the university has been ranked in the top ten universities of the country by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in its four consecutive rankings from 2012 to 2015.
“This ranking, i.e. 651-670, is the top tier of QS rankings because it represents 2 to 5 pc of total universities and higher education institutions worldwide”, said UHS Quality Enhancement Cells (QEC) Director Professor Nadia Naseem who steered the application process for the ranking.
The twelfth edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject is an independent comparative analysis of the performance of 15,200 individual university programs, taken by students at 1543 universities in 88 locations across the world, across 51 academic disciplines. They are part of the annual QS World University Rankings portfolio, which was consulted over 147 million times in 2021 on the internet and covered 96,000 times by media and institutions.
In the press statement of the QS, it has been stated that with 84 ranked programs from 21 institutions in this year’s subject rankings, Pakistan is the 40th most-represented country in the world. “In terms of top-100 programs, Pakistan is the 42nd strongest global higher education nation based on 3 programs across 3 institutions”, it added.
The UHS ranking is based on its score in four areas, namely academic reputation, employer reputation, citation per paper and h-index (a metric for evaluating the cumulative impact of an author’s scholarly output and performance). In academic reputation, the university has scored 46.8; in employer reputation, 51.8; in citations per paper, it earned the highest score of 50.7, and; in the h-index, UHS scored 30.2 points which are considered ‘outstanding’ in all prestigious research databases.
UHS Vice-Chancellor Professor Javed Akram while congratulating the faculty, staff and students of the university has said, “I am delighted to have our world-class standing recognized by the QS World University Rankings. QS is the leader in rankings and ratings in higher education and we are pleased to have their endorsement for the university. UHS is committed to all-around excellence, from unparalleled student experience to the highest quality teaching and training in health programs that will equip students for productive and successful lives and research that develops academic disciplines and impacts on economy and society. Our collaboration with world-leading partner universities gives us an edge in our programs, teaching, and research; and it gives our students the opportunity to learn in prestigious partner institutions. UHS will continue to invest in excellence and is committed to supporting the development of Pakistan and the region.”
Professor Javed Akram also lauded the role of UHS Pro-VC Professor Maroof Aziz Khan, Director Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) Professor Nadia Naseem and her team in this regard.
