National University of Sciences & Technology

National University of Sciences and Technology

Motto	Defining Futures
Type	Public Research university
Established	1991
Chancellor	President of Pakistan
Rector	Dr. Muhammad Zahid Latif
Academic staff	1,637
Students	12,468
Undergraduates	8,728
Postgraduates	3,740
Location	Islamabad , 44000 , Pakistan
Campus	H-12, Islamabad (707 acres)
Affiliations	Pakistan Engineering Council Higher Education Commission (Pakistan) Washington Accord
Website	nust.edu.pk

The National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) (Urdu: قومی جامعہِ سائنس و ٹیکنالوجی, romanized: Qaumī Jāmi'ā Sāins va Ṭaiknālōjī) is a Pakistani multi-campus public research university with its main campus in Islamabad, and other campuses in Rawalpindi, Risalpur, Quetta and Karachi. It offers degrees in multiple disciplines e.g. engineering, computer sciences, natural sciences, business studies, humanities, architecture as well as health sciences.

The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. NUST was established in March 1991 for the promotion of higher education in the country, especially in the fields of science and technology, and its charter was granted in 1993. The main campus in Islamabad also contains Pakistan's first National Science and Technology Park, certified by International Association of Science Parks (IASP).

History

Starting out as primarily an Engineering university, NUST’s strength was derived from its constituent military colleges, some of which have a long and cherished history, having been established soon after the independence of Pakistan. Engineering continues to be the forte of NUST with all programmes accredited under the Washington Accord.

Military College of Signals (MCS) in Rawalpindi is the oldest among NUST’s constituent institutions (established in 1947) and also the first of the military colleges to come under NUST’s umbrella (1991); it was the first HEI in Pakistan to start an undergraduate programme in Telecommunication Engineering (launched in 1974), later expanding to Masters and PhD programmes in the discipline, which has numerous contributions to the growth of the country’s Telecom Sector. MCS is also the first institution in Pakistan to start a Master’s programme in Information Security, started in 2004.

The NUST College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering (CEME), Rawalpindi, established in 1957, is the largest constituent college of NUST, which became part of NUST in 1993. The college initiated the first Mechatronics Engineering programme of the country in 1998. CEME’s Mechatronics Engineering and Computer Engineering programmes were two of the first four programmes in Pakistan that were shifted to Outcome Based Education (OBE) System under the Washington Accord.

College of Aeronautical Engineering (CAE), Risalpur, established in 1965, came under the NUST umbrella in 1994. CAE was Pakistan’s first HEI to start undergraduate programmes in Aerospace and Avionics Engineering in 1965. CAE is also the only institution in Pakistan offering a PhD in Avionics, as well as the only Engineering college in the country to be co-located with a military academy.

Military College of Engineering (MCE) was established at Risalpur in 1952 and became a part of NUST in 1995. In 2012, MCE became the pioneer institution of the country to introduce MS programme in Disaster Management. MCE’s Structural Dynamics laboratory is equipped with the country’s largest Seismic Testing Facility and state-of-the-art Compression Testing and Universal Testing machines. This unique expertise in Mining is crucial to the country’s needs.

Pakistan Navy Engineering College (PNEC), Karachi, was established in 1962 and joined NUST in 1995; it is NUST’s only constituent institution in the country’s southern region. PNEC’s BE and MS programmes in Naval Architecture, commencing from Fall 2020, are the country’s first programmes in this field.

Amongst the military colleges, Army Medical College was the last one to become a NUST constituent in 1998. In December of 2015, the College was affiliated with National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS).

The acquisition of Sector H-12 for its Islamabad campus has been a gigantic leap forward for the growth of NUST, as it gave impetus to the fast-paced infrastructural expansion facilitating the launch of new NUST institutions in an array of disciplines. NUST is a staunch proponent of inclusive growth and takes conscious initiatives to bring students from the country’s far-flung areas into mainstream education. Among its foremost undertakings, is the establishment of NUST Balochistan Campus (NBC) at Quetta, and a robust Outreach Programme launched in 2017. Initially catering to intermediate students from the underdeveloped areas of Balochistan and KP, the progamme has now expanded to all corners of the country.

Merit is the only criterion for admission at NUST; with an acceptance rate of 4%, the university attracts a pool of the most talented students from all over Pakistan. The true beauty of this merit-based system is reflected in the fact that approximately 60% of our student intake, that qualifies on merit, comes from the lower and lower-middle income groups. NUST maintains an affordable fee structure to promote inclusivity and has a robust need-based scholarship programme.

By aligning our R&D with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), NUST has become an SDGs-engaged university, an achievement that is recognised by international ranking agencies. Moreover, NUST seeks to amass expertise from within as well as outside the country to boost its academic and research activities. These collaborations help our faculty remain up-to-date with current knowledge and ensure a two-way flow of knowledge.  

NUST stands aloft with its Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) soaring high in numbers, and has the highest number of patents filed and awarded in Pakistani academia. NUST is also Pakistan’s first university that has transferred its technology to the industry, impacting import substitutions and industrial innovation across multiple fields like Health, Telecommunications, Manufacturing, etc.

Pakistan’s first Science & Technology Park – the National Science & Technology Park (NSTP) – at NUST’s Islamabad campus, which was inaugurated in December 2019. The Park has brought together industry and academia to work in close synergy and create a robust research and innovation ecosystem, adding value to the technological index of Pakistan.

With many other pioneering initiatives to its credit – like Pakistani academia’s first Technology Incubation Centre (established in 2005 and renamed to TechOne in 2019) to promote entrepreneurship, first Intellectual Property Office to protect innovation, first university-based think tank (NUST Institute of Policy Studies – NIPS), Pakistan’s first university-hosted cloud service by the name of NUSTCloud, and much more, NUST is well-poised to become a regional hub of higher education and innovation.  

University Social Responsibility (USR) is a major focal area at NUST, and our students alone contribute more than 100,000+ hours to community service every year under the banner of NUST Community Services Club (NCSC).

Notwithstanding its young age, NUST’s contributions to the higher education sector and technological as well as socioeconomic progress of Pakistan are immense, making it a benchmark for other Pakistani HEIs to follow. Our academic excellence, market-driven curricula, industry linkages, robust Research and Innovation (R&I) ecosystem, national innovation platform of STP and an alumni network of more than 58000, lay the foundation for NUST as an ideal place for learning, innovation and growth.

Campuses

NUST is a multi-campus university with the main campuses located in Islamabad. Campuses of NUST are located in the following cities:

Islamabad

Sector H-12 Campus

The campus in Sector H-12 Islamabad was initiated in 2008. Besides NUST Headquarters, the schools and institutes that were relocated to this campus include School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Research Center for Modeling and Simulation, School of Natural Sciences (formerly known as Center for Advanced Mathematics and Physics), Atta-ur-Rehman School of Applied Bio-sciences, School of Art Design and Architecture, NUST Business School, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Professional Development Center, Technology Incubation Center, Marketing and Industrial Relations Organization, NUST Publishing and NUST Outreach and Talent Hunt Initiative. It also has a department for career counselling named Centre for Counselling and Career Advisory (C3A) that helps provide primary mental health facilities.

The campus is spread over 800 acres (3.2 km²) of land. Sports facilities such as cricket, volleyball courts, basketball, soccer and squash courts are present while hockey stadium and tennis courts are under construction. Hostels for both male and female students are present inside the campus. Facilities in the hostels include badminton courts, basketball and gymnasiums. Some hostel rooms have attached baths while others have community baths. The campus recently inaugurated a central library next to the Headquarters, along with a race course track and a horse riding club. In 2017, a small hiking trail was also opened up for students in order to promote physical well-being. Various cafeterias are constructed on the campus to facilitate the students, along with a tailor shop, a barber shop and various bakeries and shopping marts. A Separate housing facility for the university staff is also present in the campus. Moreover, the campus also houses the NUST Science and Technology Park (NSTP). It also has a central gymnasium (along with several others in hostels) and a lake.

National Science and Technology Park

The National Science and Technology Park (NSTP) is located in SINES department. It was inaugurated in December 2019.

Rawalpindi

College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (CEME):

Located on Grand Trunk Road in Rawalpindi, EME is the largest constituent college of NUST. The campus includes all on-campus facilities, auditorium and conference hall, accommodation and mess facilities. The library is fully computerized, with a collection of 70,000 volumes.

Sports facilities at EME includes three tennis courts, a basketball court, a squash court, a badminton court, football ground, cricket pitch, a swimming pool and two gymnasiums.

Military College of Signals (MCS):

Located on Hamayun Road in Rawalpindi Cantt, it is the oldest constituent college of NUST, founded in 1947 after the independence of Pakistan to train the members of Pakistan Armed Forces. It has three departments, namely Electrical, Computer Software and Information Security departments. The MCS library is computerized, with over 55,000 volumes. It spreads over 50 acres of area and is located in the heart of Rawalpindi Cantt.

Risalpur

College of Aeronautical Engineering (CAE):

The college comprises four departments; Aerospace Engineering Department, Avionics Department, Industrial Engineering Department and Humanities and Sciences Department.

Aerospace Engineering Department has five major labs; aerodynamics lab, structure lab, propulsion and heat transfer lab, material science lab and numerical analysis lab. Avionics Department has six labs which include guidance lab, navigation and control system lab, antenna lab, communication lab, radar, microwave and digital system lab and embedded system lab.

The campus is equipped with a library, auditorium, conference hall, dining facilities and hostel facilities, although more hostel accommodation is required for a conducive study environment. The college library has a collection of 80,000 technical and reference books. Sports facilities at the campus include table tennis, badminton, basketball, tennis, volleyball, football, hockey, swimming, golf and cricket.

Military College of Engineering (Pakistan) (MCE):

College of Civil Engineering and National Institute of Transportation are located on this campus. MCE is one of the oldest constituent colleges of NUST, founded in 1948. The campus houses laboratories, a computer centre, library with 41,000 books, sports facilities and hostels.

Karachi

Pakistan Navy Engineering College (PNEC)

The college campus is spread over an area of about 75 acres (300,000 m²) comprising the administration block, four academic blocks, postgraduate studies center, labs and workshops, professional development center, an auditorium, a mosque, a dispensary, hostel and dining facilities. The campus is home to the Computer Aided Designing and Manufacturing Center and the Professional Development Center.

The campus has a library. A section known as the "Book Bank" stocks used textbooks, loaning them out to undergraduate students for a whole semester, charging 10% of the original cost of the book. The campus offers undergraduate courses in Electrical, Mechanical and Naval Architecture Engineering and Maritime Sciences. The students of PNEC are one of the finest engineers in Pakistan and have a high demand both inside and outside the country.

Quetta

NUST Balochistan Campus (NBC)

NBC is located on Kuch Road, Quetta and was Inaugurated by Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa in September 2019. The concept of establishing NBC is to help the Government and people of Balochistan in the development of human resources by producing a quality workforce in the fields of Civil engineering, computer sciences, mining and mineral resources and artificial intelligence.

The campus currently has 315 under graduate students, 30 post graduate students and 33 faculty members.

Academics

Research

A Research and Development (R&D) Directorate is established at the NUST headquarters which encourages the growth of research in the university. All efforts of R&D Directorate are coordinated through an organizational structure consisting of NUST headquarters, R&D Cells at each constituent college and NUST's commercial arms. The mission of Research Directorate is to facilitate and co-ordinate research activities of NUST constituent institutions and to liaise with other national as well as international academics, research and industrial organizations to facilitate research at NUST. It has collaboration with various International agencies such as, USAID, British Council, UKAID, QNRF, TWAS, BP, NRG Bio-fuel Canada, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and many others.

R&D cells

Each college, institute and center has an R&D Cell headed by a PhD qualified faculty member who co-ordinates, monitors and records all the R&D activities of the college. The head coordinates all the activities among departments, faculty members, researchers, students and industries identifying potential projects and sources of funds.

NUST Consulting

NUST Consulting helps researchers undertake consultancy services with external agencies. In this regard, all centers are involved with NC to improve efficiency, reduce of wastage, increase productivity and improve quality.

Technology Incubation Centre

NUST has established a Technology Incubation Centre with an aim to combine industrial development and technological research together and establish the linkages between institutes and the industry. The Incubation Centre has been mentoring and hosting startups since 2005. TIC will also help faculty members in identifying the end users apart from commercializing of R&D output.

University research journals

The university publishes the following journals:

1. NUST Journal of Engineering Sciences, ISSN 2070-9900
2. NUST Journal of Business and Economics, ISSN 2073-994X
3. NUST Journal of Natural Sciences, ISSN 2072-4659
4. Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal, ISSN 0030-9648
5. TECHNOCRAT - Journal of Science and Technology, ISSN 1728-5690

University-industry linkages

The new campus established in Islamabad is co-located with Tech Town in Sector I-12 where IT and electronics related industries and technology parks are planned to be set up, so as to promote university and industry linkages. Apart from this, NUST is providing training and consultancy services to the industry and other business organizations.

NUST has also bought lab equipment needed for doctoral and postdoctoral research work, with financing through Islamic Development Bank (IDB). IDB has provided 26 Million US$ as grant for buying the services of researchers from abroad, over and above the programs of Ministry of Science and Technology, Pakistan.

Rankings and awards

University rankings
Global – Overall
QS World	334 (2023)
THE World	601-800
USNWR Global	950
Regional – Overall
QS Asia	74
THE Asia	150-200

NUST was the first university in Pakistan to achieve ISO 9000 certification. The constituent colleges that have been certified for ISO Quality Management System include College of Aeronautical Engineering, Military College of Engineering (Pakistan), College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Pakistan Navy Engineering College and Military College of Signals. NUST won two gold and a silver medal out of three gold and three silver medals awarded by the Pakistan Engineering Council for 2005, 2006 and, 2007 for Best Graduate of the Year Award. NUST faculty members won seven awards, including President's gold medal, Best Researcher, Distinguished Scientist and Best University Teacher awards during 2007.

According to a survey, NUST is the most popular choice for engineering students in Pakistan. Google Trends show that NUST is the most searched Pakistani university ever since 2004 outranking some of the famous international universities as Sabancı University of Turkey.

In 2013, SCImago ranked NUST as 1568 in the world, 480 in the region and 6th in the country for the reporting period of 2007–11. In 2014, Webometric world university rankings ranked it at 150 in the world, 3rd in the country and 22nd in South Asia.

Higher Education Commission of Pakistan ranked NUST as the number one university in the category of 'General University: Large' in 2013 and in the category 'Engineering and Technology' in 2014 and 2015.

According to the QS World University Rankings for 2022 - 2023, ranked NUST as 334th in the world and in the Engineering category, the university was ranked as 251–300. NUST ranks #74 in Asian University Rankings in 2022.

Foreign collaborations

International universities

NUST has developed collaborations with international universities to ensure two-way flow of knowledge. These include Stanford University, Iowa State University, University of Michigan, University of Central Florida, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Cranfield University, University of Manchester, University of the West of England, University of Southampton, University of Surrey, Charles Darwin University, University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Technical University of Munich and Technical University of Denmark (DTU).

NUST has collaborations with universities in the field of medical sciences, such as Harvard University Medical School, New York Medical College, Virginia Cancer Institute, King's College London (University of London), Queen Mary, University of London, Imperial College London, University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, University of Queensland, Edith Cowan University and Trinity College Dublin (St. James Hospital, School of Pharmacy), Ireland.

Quality networks and associations

NUST is a member of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN). NUST has also been granted the membership of Association of Commonwealth Universities and International Association of Universities.

Other entities

NUST has the following international collaborations:

• Collaboration with CERN since December 2001. NUST has been awarded Associate Membership of CERN.
• Collaboration with Caltech on a project titled 'Interactive Grid Analysis Environment'. Research funding of US$0.18 million has been approved under Pak-US collaboration for this project.
• Collaboration with Stanford University since February 2004 in a project titled 'Measurement and Analysis for the Global Grid and Internet End-to-End Performance (MAGGIE)'. Research funding of US$0.162 Million has been approved under Pak-US collaboration for this project.
• NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (formerly NUST Institute of Information Technology) has been declared Microsoft Authorized Academic Training Program Institute (AATPI) by Microsoft Corporation, USA.
• Intel Corporation has established a computer lab at SEECS.
• NCR Corporation has established their Data warehouse and Data mining lab at SEECS.
• IBM has registered NUST on worldwide offering for higher education to selected universities.
• Artificial Intelligence R&D Lab has been set up in NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS) in collaboration with German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (German DFKI) and University of Kaiserslautern (TUKL), Germany.

Student life

The institute offers opportunities for students to participate in technical and professional societies. Study trips to industries and organizations are arranged, guest speakers from institutes and industry are invited and seminars and workshops are held. Sports facilities are available in all campuses.

Student Bodies

Student run organizations, societies and clubs are present in almost all the NUST campuses. These include Computer Society of Pakistan - NUST Chapter, NUST Community services club, a community service student-run body TABA - NUST Chapter, NUST Skill Development Club, NUST Volunteer Club, NUST Science Society, NUST Deep Learning Society, NUST Adventure Club, Literary Circle, Book Club, Fine Arts Club, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Society, Media (Photography) Club, Pakistan, Innovation Society, Debating Society, Aeromodelling Club, NUST Environment Club, Telecom Society, Software Society, IT Club, Automobile Club and Sports Club. Deep Sea Diving and Sailing Club is available for the students of the Pakistan Navy Engineering College in Karachi.

Sports facilities

All the campuses have their own sports facilities. Courts for indoor games and activities such as table tennis, badminton and squash are available in almost all campuses. Tennis, basketball and volleyball courts, hockey, football and cricket grounds are also present in all the main campuses. Some colleges have swimming pools and gymnasiums.

Student residence

Separate hostels for boys and girls are available in most colleges and is at various stages of completion in the rest. Students of College of Aeronautical Engineering (CAE) are provided separate accommodations, while students at Military College of Signals (MCS), College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (CEME) and Army Medical College (AMC) are placed in the newly constructed dormitories at the campus. Pakistan Navy Engineering College has sufficient hostel facilities for both male and female students. The H-12 campus of NUST also has separate hostels for boys and girls. These include Attar, Ghazali, Razi, Rumi, Zakria and Hajweri hostels for boys and Fatima, Zainab, Khadija and Ayesha hostels for girls. Dining and mess facilities are located in all campuses.

Cafeterias

There are four main cafeterias built to accommodate the student's need to refuel themselves namely C1, C2, C3 and C4. C1, also knows as concordia-1 & C2, also known as concordia-2 are properly built round structures that have everything from cafeteria to juice shop, stationery shop, bakery, print shop etc. C3 or Concordia-3 on the other hand provides scenic views of the sports complex at NUST. The desi food at C3 is the new favorite of NUSTIANS. C4 or Concordia-4 is mostly limited to students of SNS and SMME who are farthest away from all other cafeterias. Other cafes include 'Margalla Cafe', which is an outdoor space just besides SADA and is a popular spot for chai and pizza for the students.