His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, congratulated the UAE’s leadership and people, on its achievement of topping the list of the best 50 Arab Universities with 10 universities, he wished the universities more creativity, excellence and leadership in higher education and scientific research, with the support of the leadership of his Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, which gives priority to the education sector and building educational institutions being the only authority involved in the preparation of academic qualifications for the desired building process.
His Excellency wished for all leaders of the educational system, and employees of educational institutions of students, academics and administrators, more achievements with persistent and sustained efforts, since higher education and scientific research is the way to develop all aspects of life, the Minister called for doubled efforts to make the State institutions in the ranks of prestigious universities, to contribute to the sustainable development plans to serve the nation and its citizens.
The UAE topped the list of the top 50 universities in the Arab world with 10 universities, based on QS Arab region university ranking report, for the classification of universities in the Arab world 2014-2015, after extensive consultations with university leaders in the region to determine the appropriate methodology for the classification, where over 100 academics attended the consultations to explore information, in Abu Dhabi in the first half of this year.
UAE University ranked in the sixth position in the top universities in the Arab world list, while the American University of Sharjah ranked in the seventh place, the American University in Dubai came in seventeenth, Khalifa University twentieth, Zayed University twenty third, Abu Dhabi University twenty fifth, Higher Colleges of Technology thirty second, Dubai University forty sixth, and Ajman University forty seventh.
Saudi Arabia came after the UAE with nine universities, then Egypt with eight universities, Jordan and Lebanon with six universities each, followed by Iraq with four universities and Qatar with two universities and one University of Bahrain, Kuwait, Tunisia, the Sultanate of Oman and Sudan.
The Foundation said that this classification is the first for Arab universities, published by «QS», noting that the ranking was based on to nine criteria which are: 30% for academic reputation, 20% for employer reputation, 20% for faculty student ratio, 2.5% for international faculty, 2.5% for international students, 5% for faculty members with PhD, 10% for Web impact, 5% for published research of faculty, and 5% for citations for every research.
Nunzio Quacquarelli, Managing Director of «QS» said: «we pride ourselves on the level of participation that we have established with the universities of the Arab region, we trust that the first version of this classification will result in a higher degree of participation and cooperation between regional and international universities, and encourages constructive discussions.”
He noted that more than 2,350 employers and 3500 academics in the Arab region have contributed to getting results on reputation, through the questionnaire, the largest of its kind in the region, adding that the questionnaire was provided in both Arabic and English.
