The Lens

Patterns This Year

Some notable trends emerged from the rankings this year, especially at a more granular level if we dig into specific indicators. Ranking highly overall is only one part of the picture, and HE decision makers have much to gain from thinking about the patterns beneath the headline numbers.

Academic reputation and employer reputation are not always aligned.

While the views of academics and employers match reasonably closely for most of the high-ranking institutions, they do not always see eye to eye.

Academics and employers agree on the three major Saudi Arabian universities. The King Abdulaziz University, KFUPM and King Saud University all fall within the top 7 overall and all scored within the top 4 for both academic and employer reputation. The largest spread between the reputation indicators for these universities is two positions, where KFUPM ranked 3 in academic reputation and 1 in employer reputation.

Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in education in recent years, this year alone allocating SAR 201 billion (US$53.6 billion) to the sector. This represents 15.6 percent of the Kingdom’s total budget. According to World Bank data, Saudi Arabia has heavily invested in education since the early 2000s. It outpaces the global average proportionate spend on education from government dramatically and leaves education leaders like the US and UK looking miserly.

A key driver for Saudi Arabia is its ambitious Vision 2030 economic strategy, where education plays a major role. The country has long been dependent on oil but is determined to diversify away the depleting resource and shift towards new ventures. Higher education fits into the picture both as an industry and as a means of training up the next generation of young Saudis for a world with a lot less oil.

Consensus fades away however in other countries. Academics respect Cairo University considerably more than their employer counterparts, the institution ranking 2 for academics but 10 among employers.

Egypt was one of the first countries in the region to establish joint partnerships with universities overseas and it continues to promote transnational education. This has likely helped the country establish its brand among academic communities.

Egyptian universities had for years more students than they could handle, forcing many to look overseas. Egypt has the largest population in the Middle East and around half of it is under the age of 30, creating huge demand for university places.

That spurred a building spree of new universities, including ‘smart universities’ built as part of Egypt’s new administrative capital, New Cairo City. The new universities are often built in partnership with other countries, deepening transnational links and raising international profiles.

Employers also favour in some cases institutions that the academics overlook. Abu Dhabi university placed 28 in academic reputation but employers placed it 12. Academic staff place University of Baghdad 10 ranks lower than Abu Dhabi University at 28, while employers place it only one rank lower at 13.

The UAE has developed into an important regional education hub, raising its profile in the education community. Egypt may have been in the transnational game for longer, but UAE has grown faster and now boasts over 30 international branch campuses. It has grown its intake of international students from only 49,000 students to 239,000 over the past decade.

Reputation is Not Everything

The reputation of institutions may play a major role in the rankings, but reputation alone does not define a university. Qatar University is 2 in the rankings after only KFUPM, ranking more highly overall than both its AR and ER scores. High citation and internationalisation scores lifted the institution well above its reputation of 6 among academic staff and 9 among employers.

Qatar University placed 3 in citations per paper, 4 for its international research network, and scored close to 100 on both international faculty and international students, allowing it to outpace the indicators with the strongest weightings.

Scores Outside of Reputation Drop Across the Board

It may not be the best of news for some Arab Region universities that reputational scores do not fully dictate their final rank. Universities scored lower than last year on nearly all the indicators focussed elsewhere than reputation.

The ratio of faculty to students was down in 180 institutions and in 17 of the top 20, suggesting class sizes are growing as the number of teaching staff shrinks.

Both citations per paper and papers per faculty were also down across the region. Research quality and output are among the key drivers of a university’s global standing, so this poses challenges for the long-term development of the region as an education hub. 156 institutions performed worse on citation count and 160 dropped their paper per faculty output. The top 20 institutions fared little better, with 12 scoring lower on citations per paper and 16 dropping papers per faculty.

The slowdown in paper output could be compounded by weakening international research networks, scored for which dropped at 121 institutions. A small majority of the top 20 maintained their scores, with 8 universities in the top 20 staying put, 6 improving their score and the remaining 6 scoring lower than last year.

The proportion of international students to domestic students is also down, with 149 institutions losing international students relative to local student numbers and 12 of the top 20 following suit. At the same time, fewer universities are attracting international faculty to their doors.

It is too early to tell for certain why research and internationalisation efforts seem to be fading out in Northern Africa and Western Asia but universities wishing to work more closely with the region should take notice. Globally speaking there are dramatic geopolitical shifts at work that are already transforming established education market networks and business patterns.

The emerging trend in politics and in other industries is towards greater national independence. That too could happen in the hyperconnected world of international education.