education sector. The Austrian government conferred its highest civil award (“Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeischen am Bande") in recognition of his eminent contributions. Nature, a leading science journal, has also written a number of editorials and articles about the transformation brought about in Pakistan in the higher education sector under the commission. In an article entitled "Pakistan Threat to Indian Science" published in the leading daily newspaper Hindustan Times, India, it has been reported that C. N. R. Rao, chairman of the Indian Prime Minister's Scientific Advisory Council made a presentation to the Indian Prime Minister at the rapid progress made by Pakistan in the higher education sector under the leadership of Atta-ur-Rahman. It was reported that as result of the reforms brought about in Pakistan " Pakistan may soon join China in giving India serious competition in science". "Science is a lucrative profession in Pakistan. It has tripled the salaries of its scientists in the last few years.". Atta-ur-Rahman was conferred the highest national Award of the Republic of China, the Friendship Award, in September 2014, and then elected as Academician (Foreign Member) of Chinese Academy of Sciences, a prestigious honour for his contributions to develop strong linkages between Pakistan and China in various fields of higher education, science and technology. The President of China Xi Jinping conferred the highest scientific award of China to the Pakistani scientist Atta-ur-Rahman in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 10 January 2020. He thus became the first scientist of the Muslim world to receive this Award. The next chairman Javaid Laghari continued the reforms initiated earlier but focused mostly on quality and research. During his four-year tenure, emphasis was given to commercialization of research carried out in the universities and units to commercialize university research established in most public sector universities. Research output out of Pakistan increased by over 50% within three years, which was the second highest increase worldwide. According to Scimago world scientific database, if Pakistan continues at the same pace, its ranking will increase from 43 to 27 globally by 2017. In 2016, Thomson Reuters acknowledged the tenfold increase in highly cited papers from Pakistan as a result of the remarkable reform process under Javaid Laghari, and concluded that the rate of increase was higher than Brazil, Russia, India and China. Achievements The creation of commission has had a positive impact on higher education and research culture in