According to the Higher Education Data Repository (HEDR) of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), public universities are less prepared to conduct online classes in comparison to private universities.
The revelation by HEDR covertly endorses the concerned students protesting all over Pakistan against the process of online education, demanding the suspension of online classes due to poor or no internet coverage, lack of smartphones and laptops, and mediocre quality of lectures being delivered.
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Following aspects form the basis of HEDR rankings
- University readiness
- Course readiness
- Faculty readiness
- Technology readiness
- Library readiness
- Student readiness
- Evaluation readiness
- Laboratory readiness
The graph below shows the disparity between public and private universities among different aspects of readiness for online classes.
Where regions are concerned, Islamabad and Balochistan are the best prepared regions to hold online classes, with scores more than 95%.
Here is the readiness score for online classes of some public sector universities released by the HEDR.
- Government College University (GCU), Lahore, 74%
- Punjab University, 83%
- Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, 75%
- University of Education, 68%
- University of Peshawar, Peshawar, 69%
- Fatima Jinnah Medical University (FJMU), Lahore, 64%
On the other hand, private universities are far better prepared for online classes.
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For instance, the University of Central Punjab (UCP), Lahore, has online classes readiness score of almost 100% while Beaconhouse National University (BNU), Lahore, has a score of 97%.
Here are the 10 universities best prepared for conducting online classes.
| Sr. No. | Name | Score |
| 1 | Air University | 100% |
| 2 | Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education, Karachi | 100% |
| 3 | Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak | 100% |
| 4 | Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering & Management Sciences, Quetta | 100% |
| 5 | Forman Christian College, Lahore | 100% |
| 6 | HITEC University, Taxila | 100% |
| 7 | Lahore Leads University, Lahore | 100% |
| 8 | Minhaj University, Lahore | 100% |
| 9 | National College of Business Administration & Economics, Lahore | 100% |
| 10 | University of Lahore, Lahore | 100% |
Here are the 10 universities least prepared for holding online classes
| Sr. No. | Name | Score |
| 1 | Government College University, Hyderabad | 34.38% |
| 2 | Textile Institute of Pakistan, Karachi | 34.59% |
| 3 | Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Shaheed Benazirabad | 51.72% |
| 4 | Abbottabad University of Science & Technology, Abbottabad | 51.81% |
| 5 | Peoples University of Medical & Health Sciences for Women, Nawabshah | 52.68 |
| 6 | Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University, Larkana | 63.01% |
| 7 | The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Peshawar | 64.29% |
| 8 | Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Lahore | 64.33% |
| 9 | University of Buner | 65.81% |
| 10 | National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi | 66.59% |
Meanwhile, HEC has clarified that the purpose to release HEDR rankings is to encourage universities to equip themselves better for online classes.
Find out more about online classes readiness scores at Higher Education Data Repository
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