King Saud University (KSU) has entered the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) conducted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University for the first time, said Khaled Al-Anqari, Minister of Higher Education, Saturday. KSU is the first Arab university to be listed in the top 500 universities worldwide as ranked by ARWU, an influential international ranking respected for its sound and transparent methodology. The KSU entry into the ARWU followed repeated calls from academics and Shoura Council members for Saudi universities to join this highly-distinguished ranking mechanism. The ranking was determined by comparing 1,200 higher education institutions worldwide according to a formula that looks into alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Field Medals (10 percent); staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (20 percent); highly-cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories (20 percent); articles published in Nature and Science (20 percent); the Science Citation Index and Social Citation Index (20 percent); and the per capita academic performance (on the indicators above) of an institution (10 percent). “University performance has now become better assessed through independent assessors of higher education programs, such as the QS World University Rankings and Shanghai's Academic Ranking of World Universities,” a Shoura member said. Both world university ranking systems, influential indices of universities worldwide, evaluate universities based on their publications, research, graduate programs, cooperation with other universities, and a cohort of academic and research topics. Earlier this year, Saudi universities performed well in the ranking of higher education institutions of Spain's Cybermetrics Lab. The top Saudi university was King Saud University, which was ranked 197 in the World. Other strong performers were King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (303), Imam Muhammad bin Saud University (636), King Faisal University (993) and King Abdulaziz University (1,072). In the latest Times Higher Education QS World University Rankings, two Saudi universities were ranked in the Top 300 universities in the world, with King Saud University and King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals being ranked 247 and 266, respectively. The rankings saw King Saud University top the list of Arab world universities, followed by King Fahd University. Kheder Al-Qurashi, a Shoura Council member, said he is in favor of “forcing” Saudi universities to participate in accredited international ranking systems. “We have recommended that the National Commission for Accreditation and Assessment be directly linked with the Prime Minister, the King, to have more power in fixing problems in all Saudi universities,” he said. Ibrahim Al-Shethri, a Shoura Council member, said the Council wants universities to pay more attention to international accreditation programs, quality of teaching staff and research. Being successfully subject to international standards of accreditation will help universities boost their worldwide ranking, said Ahmad Bin Mufarrih, deputy chairman of the Education Affairs and Scholarly Research Committee at the Shoura Council. Saudi universities need to focus more on the validity of their programs, curriculum, and quality of their graduates, he added.
