The Higher Education Commission has released its Annual ORIC Self-Assessment Evaluation Report for FY2024-25, revealing major shifts in Pakistan’s university research landscape, with only seven universities achieving the highest “W” category among 95 institutions evaluated nationwide.
The report evaluates the performance of Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORICs), which are responsible for managing research activities, innovation initiatives, industry collaboration, commercialization, grants, patents, and institutional research planning in universities across Pakistan.
According to the HEC, universities were divided into four performance tiers — W, X, Y, and underperforming — based on their research management systems, commercialization output, innovation ecosystem, grant activity, and institutional research performance.
Only Seven Universities Achieve Top ‘W’ Category
Universities securing scores of 80 or above were placed in the prestigious “W” category, considered the highest benchmark for research excellence and innovation management in Pakistan.
The seven universities that achieved this top ranking are:
- National University of Sciences and Technology
- Air University
- NED University of Engineering and Technology
- Sukkur Institute of Business Administration
- The University of Lahore
- University of Agriculture Faisalabad
- Ziauddin University
The report highlights that these institutions demonstrated exceptional performance in research governance, innovation management, commercialization efforts, and research productivity.
Among them, The University of Lahore emerged as one of the very few private-sector universities to enter the elite “W” category, reflecting growing competition between public and private higher education institutions in Pakistan.
38 Universities Placed in ‘X’ Category
The “X” category included institutions scoring between 60 and 79, representing satisfactory research and innovation performance.
Major universities placed in this category include:
- Aga Khan University
- Dow University of Health Sciences
- Quaid-i-Azam University
- Lahore University of Management Sciences
- COMSATS University Islamabad
- Bahria University
- Institute of Business Management
- Pakistan Institute of Development Economics
- Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology
- Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology
Major Public Universities Ranked in ‘Y’ Category
A total of 43 universities were placed in the “Y” category, indicating below-average research and innovation performance or weaker ORIC systems.
Institutions listed in this category include:
- University of Karachi
- University of the Punjab
- University of Peshawar
- Lahore College for Women University
- Jinnah University for Women
- Abdul Wali Khan University
- Islamia College University
- Sindh Madressatul Islam University
The rankings indicate that several long-established public universities continue facing challenges in commercialization, innovation management, and research governance despite strong academic reputations.
Seven Universities Declared Underperforming
The HEC report also identified seven universities as underperforming due to weak ORIC performance indicators and limited research management capacity.
These universities include:
- Bacha Khan University
- Greenwich University
- Karakoram International University
- Shah Abdul Latif University
- Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University
- Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University
- University of Swat
The report highlighted the strong performance of Khyber Medical University, which secured the top position in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and ranked second nationwide in the Medical and Health Sciences category.
The university’s performance reflects growing research activity in the health sciences sector, especially in medical innovation, research publications, and institutional grant management.
Research Proposals Increase Sharply Across Pakistan
The HEC report also revealed a major increase in research activity during FY2024-25.
Pakistani universities submitted 9,987 research proposals during the fiscal year, compared to only 2,237 proposals in the previous year, showing a massive rise in institutional research engagement.
However, despite the increase in submissions, the overall approval rate dropped to nearly 12.5 percent because of growing competition for limited research funding.
The report suggests that universities are becoming increasingly active in research proposal development, but funding limitations continue to restrict large-scale project approvals.
Lack of Permanent ORIC Leadership Raises Concerns
According to the report, only 68.42 percent of universities currently have full-time ORIC heads.
The HEC noted that the absence of permanent research leadership in several institutions is negatively affecting long-term research planning, commercialization strategies, and institutional performance.
Despite this issue, more than 85 percent of universities reportedly have full-time research managers and innovation and commercialization managers in place.
17 Universities Improved Rankings
The report further stated that 17 universities improved their category rankings compared to the previous evaluation cycle, while four universities experienced a decline in performance.
The HEC considers ORIC performance evaluations an important benchmark for strengthening Pakistan’s higher education research ecosystem, improving industry-academia collaboration, and enhancing innovation output at universities nationwide.
