National University of Sciences and Technology
Islamabad, Pakistan — www.nust.edu.pk
- QS Ranking
- #381
- Founded
- 1991
- Type
- Public Research University (Federal Charter)
- Students
- 18,000+
- Acceptance Rate
- ~5–10% (NET — NUST Entry Test, Pakistan's most selective engineering entrance)
- Founded
- 1991 — Pakistan's national engineering university
- QS Rank
- #381 (2025) — Pakistan's #1 university
- Margalla Hills
- Himalayas foothills form the campus backdrop — leopards and Himalayan wildlife 1 km away
- Careem
- Pakistan's billion-dollar startup (acquired by Uber) — NUST alumni founders
Overview
The National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), founded in 1991 as Pakistan's premier engineering and technology institution — established by a special act of the Pakistani government specifically to create a world-class technical university — is Pakistan's highest-ranked university and ranked #381 in QS 2025. NUST was built from scratch in Islamabad's H-12 sector on a spectacular 2,300-hectare campus (Islamabad's largest university campus) with the Margalla Hills (the foothills of the Himalayas) as a dramatic backdrop. Admission is through the NET (NUST Entry Test) — Pakistan's most competitive engineering entrance examination (the Pakistani equivalent of India's JEE Advanced), with hundreds of thousands of applicants competing for ~3,000 spots. NUST is particularly distinguished in engineering (computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical, and civil — the latter has designed major Pakistani infrastructure including the Lahore-Islamabad motorway), business (the NUST Business School is ranked Pakistan's best), and mathematics. NUST operates on a sprawling multi-school campus system with 20 constituent schools across Pakistan (including military engineering schools in Risalpur and Karachi), but the main H-12 Islamabad campus is the flagship.
Admission Process
Pakistani students: NET (NUST Entry Test) — held 3 times/year (NET-1, NET-2, NET-3). International students: nust.edu.pk/international. IELTS 6.0+/TOEFL 79+. Most programs in English. Pakistani Government Scholarship (for OAS and ECO countries). Chinese Government Scholarship for Pakistan-China Joint Science programs. Deadlines: March–August.
Programs at National University of Sciences and Technology
- MSc Computer Science (Master's) — 3,000 USD/year
- Master of Business Administration (Master's) — 5,000 USD/year
- MSc Data Science & AI (Master's) — 8,000 USD/year
- Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Engineering) (Bachelor's) — 12,000 USD/year
- Master of Science in Engineering (Master's) — 3,000 USD/year
- PhD in Natural Sciences (PhD) — 5,000 USD/year
- BSc Computer Science (Bachelor's) — 2,000 USD/year
- BSc Business Administration (Bachelor's) — 3,000 USD/year
- BSc Economics (Bachelor's) — 5,000 USD/year
- BA International Relations (Bachelor's) — 8,000 USD/year
- BSc Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's) — 12,000 USD/year
- BSc Civil Engineering (Bachelor's) — 2,000 USD/year
- BSc Electrical Engineering (Bachelor's) — 3,000 USD/year
- MBA Finance (MBA) — 40,501 USD/year
- MSc Marketing (Master's) — 33,616 USD/year