Arab University Rankings 2021

The Times Higher Education Arab University Rankings 2021 reveal the strength of higher education across the Arab region. The methodology is based on the same framework as our World University Rankings, but some adjustments have been made and some new metrics have been included to reflect the features and missions of universities in the Middle East and North Africa.

Universities are judged across all their core missions – teaching, research, society and international outlook – to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available.

Read the Arab University Rankings 2021 methodology

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz University tops the inaugural table for the region, with the Kingdom claiming four of the top five positions and five of the top 10.

Qatar University claims second place, while institutions in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Egypt also feature in the top 10. Egypt is the most-represented nation overall, with 31 institutions.

Elsewhere, Bahrain Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia and Morocco all achieve top 50 positions, while Palestine, Iraq and Algeria appear in the top 100.

The top private institution in the ranking is Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University in fourth place.

Overall, 125 universities across 14 countries are ranked. A further 30 institutions are listed with “reporter” status, meaning that they provided data but did not meet our eligibility criteria to receive a rank.

Read our analysis of the Arab University Rankings 2021 results

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Rank	Name Country/Region	Overall	Citations	International Outlook	Research	Teaching	Society
1	King Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabia Explore	97.9	99.0	88.4	99.8	98.0	96.7
2	Qatar University Qatar	92.8	94.6	88.6	100.0	85.4	93.5
3	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Saudi Arabia	92.6	99.8	77.5	100.0	92.3	50.0
4	Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University Saudi Arabia Explore	90.1	100.0	93.8	93.3	79.5	92.7
5	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Saudi Arabia Explore	89.7	89.6	71.9	99.7	85.5	80.8
6	Khalifa University United Arab Emirates Explore	88.8	87.0	77.4	97.1	89.5	60.0
7	United Arab Emirates University United Arab Emirates Explore	88.4	74.3	86.1	99.1	86.5	89.0
8	King Saud University Saudi Arabia	87.8	83.6	89.0	100.0	87.7	33.3
9	American University of Beirut Lebanon	87.1	57.5	66.0	99.8	95.9	95.6
10	Zewail City of Science and Technology Egypt	86.0	97.4	28.7	98.4	81.1	82.8
11	Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) Egypt	85.6	94.9	40.8	94.4	82.3	84.3
12	Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Saudi Arabia	83.7	57.7	93.2	91.0	87.4	97.3
13	Mansoura University Egypt	80.4	67.9	60.4	89.1	83.2	85.5
14	Umm Al-Qura University Saudi Arabia Explore	79.8	49.3	94.6	84.4	88.3	89.4
15	Arabian Gulf University Bahrain	79.7	53.0	93.0	88.4	92.8	31.0
16	Sultan Qaboos University Oman	79.3	54.4	77.8	97.2	85.3	32.3
=17	Kafrelsheikh University Egypt	79.1	99.8	62.7	77.3	71.3	83.6
=17	Suez Canal University Egypt	79.1	76.7	61.1	80.8	83.0	80.6
=19	Alexandria University Egypt	78.3	56.4	56.6	90.5	83.0	87.4
=19	University of Sharjah United Arab Emirates Explore	78.3	91.2	91.7	82.2	61.9	86.3
21	Lebanese American University Lebanon	78.2	63.9	71.0	87.8	91.1	11.9
22	The University of Jordan Jordan Explore	76.8	34.9	66.4	97.5	92.0	32.5
23	American University in Cairo Egypt	76.1	53.7	53.9	100.0	81.4	19.9
=24	American University of the Middle East Kuwait Explore	75.6	54.3	82.1	89.9	80.5	32.3
=24	Jordan University of Science and Technology Jordan	75.6	59.9	63.4	93.5	77.7	33.3