Pakistan/turkey_ Pakistan’s students are steadily turning academic excellence into national soft power, securing recognition at some of the world’s most competitive platforms.
Recent achievements by students from NUST and LUMS highlight how young Pakistanis are not only competing internationally, but also shaping Pakistan’s image as a country of talent, innovation and intellectual depth.
Aerospace innovation from Karachi to Ankara
A three-member team from NUST–Pakistan Navy Engineering College (PNEC) has delivered one of Pakistan’s most advanced academic breakthroughs in aerospace engineering by winning the Lift Up 2024–2025 Industry-Oriented Graduate Projects Competition, organized by Turkish Aerospace.
Their final-year project focused on the Multiphysics analysis and design optimization of a composite nose radome for a supersonic combat aircraft, integrating thermal, electromagnetic, aerodynamic and mechanical disciplines.
The project stood out among 222 submissions by 747 students from 67 universities worldwide.
The NUST-PNEC team was the first and only group from Pakistan to collaborate with Turkish Aerospace under the Lift Up program and the only international team shortlisted for the closing conference, finishing among the top 20 teams globally.
Their work has also been published in the official Lift Up project proceedings, carrying an ISBN, underlining its academic and industrial relevance.
Pakistan reaches Huawei ICT global finals
In the technology domain, Waleed Ahmed, a Software Engineering student from NUST SEECS, has qualified for the Huawei ICT Competition Global Final in Shenzhen, China. Competing under the “Pakistan Cloud Track” team.
Waleed secured second position at the regional finals in Riyadh, outperforming teams from across the Middle East and Central Asia.
The achievement came in a competition that attracted more than 17,500 participants worldwide. Placing Pakistan firmly among the region’s top emerging tech contributors and reinforcing the country’s growing footprint in cloud computing and digital infrastructure.
A landmark victory for Pakistan in legal education
Pakistan also marked a historic milestone in legal education when three LUMS students won the 47th Jean-Pictet International Humanitarian Law Competition. This is the first time since the competition’s inception in 1989 that a Pakistani team has claimed the title.
The victory positions Pakistani students at the forefront of global humanitarian law discourse. Which demonstrates intellectual maturity and ethical leadership in a field central to international governance and conflict law.
Together, these achievements reflect that Pakistan’s youth are no longer just students, they are national assets shaping the country’s global standing through merit, knowledge and excellence.
