Culture & Education | Saturday 7 February, 2015 2:41 pm |

Times Higher Education (THE) hosted its first-ever university ranking in the Middle East and North Africa, where King Abdul Aziz University won the third place in the field of research excellence. The first position went to Texas A&M University of Qatar, followed by the Lebanese American University. The University of Qatar ranked fourth, while the American University of Beirut scored the fifth place.

THE’s ranking indicators are based on Elsevier’s Scopus database, designed to highlight leading regional universities.
The full list including 30 other academic institutions will be disclosed at the inaugural Times Higher Education MENA Universities Summit in Doha, Qatar, on Feb. 23 and 24.
In partnership with the global thought leaders and academic attendees, the event will feature the first major public consultation session on proposals for a full Times Higher Education MENA University Ranking.

The rankings will be based on the foundations of Times Higher Education’s flagship World University Rankings and will feature a bespoke range of metrics for the region.
The aim of the consultation is to identify new metrics meant to reflect different regional priorities and university missions, such as focusing more on teaching and learning, as well as graduate employment.

“Times Higher Education’s university classification is among the best university ranking in the world. It is a means of evaluating academic performance and research excellence,” Farouq Al-Khateeb, an economy professor at King Abdul Aziz University, told Arab News. “In order to achieve these goals, Saudi universities have made strong efforts to promote their scientific researches and academic programs over the last 10 years,” Al-Khateeb added.