The National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) has managed to break into the top 500 universities in the world as ranked by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) in its World University Rankings 2018.By contrast, the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), University of Engineering and Technology (UET), University of Karachi (KU) and the University of Lahore (UOL) all made it to the top 1,000 varsities in the world.QS is a British company which specialises in education and study abroad.According to the recently released rankings, NUST is now ranked at 437 in the world, 91 places higher than last year.Moreover, the Islamabad-based varsity also improved its ranking from 74 to 61 in the “Top 50 under 50” category. This category allows some of the world’s top young universities to shine, rewarding those universities who have a great performance in teaching and research which have established themselves in the world rankings in a short space of time.NUST also features amongst the world’s elite institutions in four of the 46 subject areas included in the 13th edition of its rankings.It stood at 270 in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 273 in the field of Computer Science and Information Systems, 367 in the field of Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering and 472 in Physics and Astronomy.It ranked at 112 among Asian universities.QAU came in at 672 while LUMS came in at 716, UET at 934, KU at 937 and UoL at 938.The top varsities in the ranking were Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) and the University of Cambridge from the UK rounding up the top five. While the top three lots remained unchanged from last year, CALTECH though displaced Cambridge.Last year, the Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB) at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) was ranked among the top 300 business schools in the world.Published in The Express Tribune, July 26, 2017.