Quality of higher education institutes determines the future of any nation. Higher education commission (HEC) has strived hard to elevate the standards of higher education in Pakistan but desired results have not been redeemed. This article endeavors to highlight barriers in the implementation of quality assurance mechanism devised by HEC and higher education institutes (HEIs) to improve quality of both teaching and research. Data were collected from 204 Government sector and 205 faculty members of private sector universities in the Punjab Province and the Capital Islamabad. T-test for independent sample was applied to find the dissimilarities in the views of government sector and faculty members of private universities about hurdles in the quality assurance procedure adopted by their respective universities. It was revealed that inconsistent policies, ambiguous targets and lack of training regarding quality assurance practices were main hurdles.

Globalization and market-based orientation of higher education institutions has increased interest of students, parents, employers, universities, funding agencies, governments, and relevant stakeholders in knowing the rank of their concerned universities at national/global level. This has led to the emergence of several global university ranking systems. Aligned with international trends of ranking, Higher Education of Pakistan [HEC] also initiated ranking of universities at the national level in Pakistan. Subsequently, HEC designed comprehensive ranking criteria for ranking of universities and has implemented it since 2010. This study analyzes the nature of HEC ranking criteria and its constituent indicators from the perspective of global university ranking systems. Using content and thematic analysis, this study found that global university ranking systems mainly focus quality of research and teaching, while HEC additionally focuses effective and efficient use of resources, provision of facilities, social integration, and impact on community development.