The VC leadership crisis

A lot has been written about the non-appointment of vice chancellors (VCs) in public-sector universities. Universities’ performance can be measured in international rankings and research output. Two major companies publish global universities ranking: Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The ranking measurement methodologies of both are quite different.

THE is more focused on the research performance of universities. It is considered as the gold standard in universities’ ranking due to more weight in the scoring on research output while measuring universities’ rankings. The company claims it’s the only international company that “judges research-intensive universities across all their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook”.

The score of THE ranking consists of a weight of 30 per cent each to teaching, research, and citations. Of the remaining 10 per cent, the international outlook accounts for 7.5 per cent and industry income for 2.5 per cent. The organidation conducts a global reputation survey. The survey accounts for 15 per cent of teaching and 18 per cent of research parameters. Staff-to-student ratio, doctorate-to-bachelor ratio, doctorate degrees awarded to academic staff, and international income account for 4.5, 2.25, 6.0, and 2.25 per cent in the teaching measure. The rest of the research measures include research income and research productivity of 6.0 per cent each.

The international outlook is the proportion of a university’s eligible publications with at least one international co-author. This indicator is normalised for different parameters. For citations, 27,100 academic journals indexed in Elsevier’s Scopus database and all other indexed publications during the last six years are collected and evaluated. The indicator is composed of a proportion of international staff, students, and collaborators each accounting for 2.5 per cent. The industry income is estimated using the willingness to pay method and it accounts for 2.5 per cent. It shows the extent to which the industry is willing to pay for research and a university’s ability to attract funding.

The number of universities participating in THE world university ranking in Pakistan increased from 55 in 2023 to 88 in 2024, an increase of 66 per cent, and then suddenly it decreased to 50 in 2025 showing a decrease of 43 per cent. Forty-eight universities in the country reported data in 2024 as a reporting university but only three reported in 2025, the biggest reason for the decrease in the participation of universities in THE ranking.

Most of these universities are working without a regular VC. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s universities show the same trend as the number of universities participated in WUR increased from 10 to 16 and then decreased to 10 during the same periods. Eight universities including Abbottabad University of Science and Technology, Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Khyber Medical University, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar, University of Swabi, the University of Technology Nowshera, and Women University Mardan participated as a reporting university in 2024. However, only Bacha Khan University Charsadda continued to be a reporting university and the rest did not participate; unfortunately, all of these universities have been operating without a regular VC.

It is important to mention that reporting universities are not ranked but become eligible for ranking on regular participation. Only Quaid-e-Azam University has been ranked in the 401-500 band since 2023. However, the number of universities decreased from 10 in 2022 to 8 in 2025 in the 601-800 band in the country. Two of these three belong to KP including Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM) and Hazara University Mansehra, respectively falling to 801-1000 and 1001-1200. Both universities are working without a regular VC. Only the University of Malakand is holding its position in the same band, and coincidently a regular VC is working there.

AWKUM lost its relative position of second among 88 universities in the country in 2024 to tenth among the 50 universities in 2025. It is important to mention that AWKUM has been ranked second in the country since 2020. Similarly, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat and Islamia College University also lost their higher band of 801–1000 in 2024 and fell to 1001-1200 and 1201–1500, respectively.

QS ranking uses research quality, graduate employability, teaching experience, and international outlook as the measurement criterion. The Employer Reputation Survey weighs 10 per cent, and the Academic Reputation Survey weighs 40 per cent. The ranking considers citations per faculty indicator weighing 20 per cent. The faculty-student ratio indicator measures the learning and teaching environment of the university, which weighs 20 per cent. The employability of the university graduate gets a weight of 5.0 per cent. Two metrics, International Student Ratio, and International Faculty Ratio, account for 5.0 per cent each, rounding up the final weights to 100 per cent.

Fourteen universities participated in the QS rankings in 2024 and 2025, showing relatively fewer universities participation in the rankings. The QS ranking between the two years remained the same except some of the universities improved their relative position. Quaid-e-Azam University, National University of Sciences & Technology, Islamabad, and Lahore University of Management Sciences are ranked as the top three universities in the country. The University of Punjab elevated its ranking from 741-750 bands in 2024 to 570 in 2025. This is a huge improvement and needs appreciation. In KP, only the University of Peshawar has been ranked in the 801-1000 band for the last three years.

The ease of participation in THE ranking makes it the most attractive ranking agency for universities. The university only provides data on some teaching-related indicators; the rest is compiled by THE. It also reduces the chances of misreporting on the universities’ part.

These rankings show two important trends: one, fewer universities are participating in the ranking both in Pakistan and KP; and two, universities with stable rankings in good bands lost their positions – both indicating a very dismal situation and pathetic performance of higher education institutions in the country. Who is responsible for this? I guess the answer is obvious. Sustaining and improving such rankings require investment in branding and quality aspects, which is a challenge for most of the universities in KP due to the financial crunch. However, permanent leadership of the universities is key to working towards this challenge.

Lack of leadership is a stumbling block that leads to ignoring the vision for which the university is established, as an interim arrangement to govern universities overlooks long-term planning. However, the supposedly shorter duration of the interim arrangement has now become long enough to hurt the governance and performance of the universities in the country.