São Paulo – The first ranking of the best universities of the Arab world, released recently by British consulting firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) shows that the countries in the region are investing, in the last few years, to improve higher learning, but that there’s a long way to go before the institutions to reach international standards of quality.
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), from Saudi Arabia, tops the regional ranking, while it stands at the 225th place in the world. At the world’s first place is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in the United States. In Brazil, the best placed university in the world list is the University of São Paulo (USP), at the 132nd position.
“While universities and countries in the Arab world vary in their performance, it can be said that higher education in the Arab world as a whole is far from the international standards in the globally recognised research activity”, explained Shadi Hijazi, senior analyst of QS’s inteligency unity in an interview, by email, to ANBA.
“With the exception of King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (Kaust), which is not included in the rankings as it doesn’t have undergraduate programs, all of the Arab universities showed very low research output. Even the leading Arab universities in research output, American University of Beirut (AUB), United Arab Emirates University and King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), have shown low research output compared to international standards. This has also affected Academic Reputation of the universities among international academics, resulting in lower rank in world rankings”, emphasized Hijazi.
According to the QS’s analyst, the ranking of the best Arab universities took into account also specific indexes for the region, such as the impact of the internet and the reputation of the institutions among local employers.
“AUB’s reputation is excellent among employers in Lebanon and the region, and the employers often seek our students to hire them”, said the communications office of the Lebanese university, also via email. AUB was ranked as the second best university in the Arab world. In the world rankings, it stands at the 249th position.
According to AUB’s communications office, the competitive edge of the Lebanon university is that it “teaches critical thinking skills and a liberal arts education, which equips students with the skills needed to excel at any job.” The Lebanese university has around 8,000 students and offers approximately 120 undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The Arts and Sciences and Engineers and Architecture Departments receive the highest number of enrolments in the institution, in both undergraduate and post-graduate programs.
The Arab ranking also shows a concentration of the best universities in a few countries. Only five nations of the regions host the ten best universities among the 22 Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Among the top four, three are located in Saudi Arabia.
“Surely there are quality institutions that deliver quality learning experiences across the region. From a rankings perspective however, we focus on the international diversity in the university, research output and reputation in the region”, said Hijazi.
“Countries from the Gulf have higher international focus, because of the nature of these economies that attract expats. Besides, research and web presence require strategic investments, which in turn improve the universities’ academic reputation. So the main explanation for this concentration is the strong investments made by Saudi and other Gulf governments in higher education. These investments have pushed younger institutions in the region to compete strongly with established names”, said the analyst.
At fifth place among the best Arab learning institutions, the American University in Cairo (AUC) , in Egypt, has 1,280 students enrolled in its master’s and doctor programs, besides more than 5,600 undergraduate students.
According to information from the Office of Data Analytics and Institutional Research of the university, the good position among the universities in the regions “due to its academic and employer reputation as well as the multicultural environment, world-class facilities and distinguished Egyptian and international faculty”.
At QS’s world rankings, AUC stands at the 360th position. The Egyptian university offers 36 undergraduate courses and 46 post-doctorate courses, including two doctoral programs. Among the undergraduate, the most popular courses are Mechanical Engineering and Business Management, while among the post-doctorate courses, the most popular ones are Business Administration and Public Administration.
Internationalization
The ranking by QS analyzed 259 Arab universities, with 100 being listed as the best in the region. For the consulting firm, it’s important to point out that nine of these institutions are under ten years old, indicating recent investments by the countries in the creation of new quality institutions of higher education. Among the “young” institutions, the best placed is the American University of Sharjah , created in 1977 and at the 7th position.
“A number of Arab countries have invested in improving higher education and their universities. There is, however, strong demographic pressure from the young. As such, countries need large investments to improve both capacity and quality, and to build new universities. This could be difficult in countries with limited economic resources, but it would explain the stellar performance of younger institutions”, said Hijazi.
The presence of foreign students is another factor taken into account for the rating of the universities. In this specific matter, the teaching language of the institution helps to attract more international students. At AUC, for instance, all courses are taught in English, while at AUB the English is the language of the majority of the courses, with the exception of those offered by the Arab language department. Therefore, English proficiency is one of the main requirements to study in these institutions.
At the top of the region’s ranking, Saudi Arabia attracts international students, especially for postgraduate courses, according to QS’s analyst. “Universities in the kingdom are generally large public institutions, so they focus on local students as a priority. However, some Saudi universities like KFUPM and King Abdul Aziz University (KAU) have a good ratio of international students compared to the region. Other [Saudi] universities are putting some efforts into attracting foreign students, although mainly from Islamic countries”, said Hijazi.
For those that are interested in studying in an Arab university, but lack the financial means, it’s possible to seek scholarships. At AUC, for instance, this possibility is open to Egyptian and foreign students. “National and international students receive need-based financial aid as well as non-need based cultural, athletics and other named scholarships. In the Fall of 2014, 3,171 undergraduate students were awarded scholarships”, said the university.
Read below the ranking of the 10 best universities of the Arab world by QS consulting firm:
1º – King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (Saudi Arabia)
2º – American University of Beirut (Lebanon)
3º – King Saud University (Saudi Arabia)
4º – King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia)
5º – American University in Cairo (Egypt)
6º – United Arab Emirates University (United Arab Emirates)
7º – American University of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates)
8º- University of Jordan (Jordan)
9º – Cairo University (Egypt)
10º – Jordan University of Science and Technology (Jordan)
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
