Revealed: Top 10 universities in the Arab region

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz University has emerged as the best in the Arab region in a new ranking of the region’s top institutions compiled by Times Higher Education (THE).

The Jeddah-based university retained the top spot for the third year in a row because of its “very strong citation impact and highly international outlook”, the report from THE said.

The UAE’s Khalifa University (formerly Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research) bagged the second spot and was followed by Qatar University, Jordan University of Science and Technology and UAE University, to round off the top five.

Egypt was found to be the most-represented nation among the 31 institutions ranked, claiming nine places, up from eight last year. However, it had just one top-10 representative: Beni-Suef University at 10th place.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia had five spots, UAE had four, and Morocco and Jordan each had three on the overall list.

Saudi’s Alfaisal University climbed two places from last year on the back of “big improvements in its research environment, citation impact and industry income”, the report said.

However, King Saud University fell five places for research environment and industry income, while King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals also dropped seven spots since its industry income score plummeted and the institution “achieved a poorer performance for teaching environment, research environment and international outlook”, the report added.

Looking at the UAE, apart from two in the top 10, American University of Sharjah jumped two places to 12th while newcomer University of Sharjah made its debut at 14th place.

Overall, institutions from 11 of the 22 Arab League nations made the list, which was compiled using 13 performance indicators.

Phil Baty, THE’s editorial director of global rankings, said: “The results demonstrate that leading universities are found across the Arab region.

“However, the ranking also shows that there is a lack of data on higher education institutions in the region. Of the 1,102 universities that make our World University Rankings, just 31 are based in the Arab world. We hope that more universities in the region will participate in future years.”

TOP 10 UNIVERSITIES IN THE ARAB WORLD 2018
Source: Times Higher Education

1. King Abdulaziz University
Country: Saudi Arabia
Rank in 2017: 1

2. Khalifa University
Country: UAE
Rank in 2017: Not ranked

3. Qatar University
Country: Qatar
Rank in 2017: 5

4. Jordan University of Science and Technology
Country: Jordan
Rank in 2017: 8

5. United Arab Emirates University
Country: UAE
Rank in 2017: 6

6. American University of Beirut
Country: Lebanon
Rank in 2017: 7

7. Alfaisal University
Country: Saudi Arabia
Rank in 2017: 9

8. King Saud University
Country: Saudi Arabia
Rank in 2017: 3

9. King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
Country: Saudi Arabia
Rank in 2017: 2

10. Beni-Suef University
Country: Egypt
Rank in 2017: Not ranked