Arab University Rankings 2024: success on many levels

Browse the full results of the Arab University Rankings 2024

Countries in the Arab region have varying levels of economic prosperity, which of course impacts their higher education systems. But which ones are getting the biggest bang for buck when it comes to universities?

The below chart compares each country’s median score for the finance-related metrics with their non-financial scores (with the size of the bubble representing the number of institutions ranked). We can see that universities in Saudi Arabia have a larger average financial input than Bahrain and the UAE, but that this is not translating to better outcomes.

Lebanon, on the other hand, has a lower financial median than neighbouring Jordan, but a better performance on average.

Which countries deliver the most ‘bang for buck’?

Meanwhile, the below radar charts reveal how the five top newly ranked universities perform. The highest-ranked new entrant in this year’s Arab University Rankings is Ahlia University in Bahrain, which comes straight into the top 20 at joint 17th. As the chart shows, research quality is this institution’s biggest strength, but it has high scores across the board, with only one pillar – research environment – scoring slightly less than 70.

How the five top newly ranked universities perform

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Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco comes in at joint 38th position, thanks to scores of 87.2 in society and 80.8 in research quality. It has room for improvement in the teaching, research environment and international pillars, however. Saudi Arabia’s Majmaah University and Kuwait’s Gulf University for Science and Technology (both of which rank in the 51-60 band) show a similar pattern to Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, but they have higher scores for international outlook.

The UAE’s University of Dubai also ranks in the 51-60 band but tells a different story: this university excels in the research quality and international pillars, with scores of 86.5 and 76.2, respectively. However, it scores just 11.8 under the society pillar and has scores in the 40s for both teaching and research environment.