Introducing the new members of our Arab University Rankings advisory board

Last March, we launched the Times Higher Education Arab University Rankings advisory board. The board met several times throughout the year to discuss the opportunities and challenges for higher education across the Arab region, which resulted in improvements to the Arab University Rankings.

In November, the board agreed to recruit new members, and we invited applications from across the Arab region. There were many high-quality applications, perhaps unsurprising given that this is the fastest-improving university region in the world. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people who took the time to submit an application to help us improve our ranking.

We are very pleased to announce that the Arab University Rankings advisory board has now been expanded, with six new members from six countries and a wide range of experience. In total, the board now has 15 members, seven women and eight men, from 10 countries.

The six new board members are shown at the end of the full list of board members:

The advisory board is an important part of our commitment to increase the transparency of our approach – as we have seen with our Impact Rankings advisory board and our World University Rankings advisory board.

The board meets four times a year, including at least one in-person event, and THE will assist the members with information and administrative support.

The Arab University Rankings were created in 2021 to support the rapid growth in the quantity and quality of universities in the Arab region. In the 2021 iteration, 125 universities were ranked, plus 30 reporter institutions; the 2023 table sees 207 universities ranked, with a further 106 reporters.

David Watkins is managing director of data science at Times Higher Education, and chair of the Arab University Rankings advisory board.