[1][2] It is sponsored by the not-for-profit Islamic International Medical College Trust (IIMCT).

The first project of the IIMCT was the Islamic International Medical College in Rawalpindi, established in 1996 by its founding managing trustee, Zulfiqar Ali Khan.

The board of governors and the academic council are the highest policy-making bodies of the university.

Subsequently, Riphah university ranked in the sixth position among private and public sector national universities of medium size with a quality score of 9.70 on the basis of quality assurance and research output criteria set by the HEC.

Riphah was the first university in Pakistan to be certified under ISO 9001:2008 Standard by the UK based Lloyd's Register, one of the top five global independent risk management and safety assurance organizations.