Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi has come out on top in two global rankings as the best in the UAE.

For the fifth year in a row, the research-oriented Khalifa University is the top-ranked institution out of 11 universities from the UAE assesed in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2023. It has also climbed to 37th place in the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2022, which comprises 616 universities from 31 countries.

Dr Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, executive Vice-President, Khalifa University, termed the achievement as “historic” for the UAE and the university.

“The twin global rankings demonstrate that for the second year in a row, Khalifa University has remained among the top 200 globally in the QS World University Rankings 2023, and among top 40 in THE Asia University Rankings, bringing more honour to the UAE. Since 2015, Khalifa University has moved up 260 places over nine years, and has consistently moved higher six times in the QS World Universities rankings.”

In the QS World University Rankings 2023, which lists a total of 1,422 universities from 100 countries, Khalifa University has gone up in the rankings by two notches. The university has also scored ‘10’ globally for International Faculty.

“Our international status in the most recent QS and THE rankings are robust indications of our research and academic strength which we aim to strengthen even further. As we advance more in local and global rankings, we believe our performance will help us expand our overall offerings, while developing more human and intellectual capital that will contribute to the UAE’s knowledge-economy transformation,” Dr Al Hammadi said.

In the International Research Network category, Khalifa University scored 53.9 against a global average of only 41. This category reflects the ability of an institution to diversify the geography of their international research network by establishing sustainable research partnerships with other higher education institutions. Factors such as diversity of partner locations against the efforts needed to achieve such a diversity are also taken into consideration while quantifying this score.

The QS World University Rankings assess each academic institution on six metrics, including its reputation amongst academics and employers. The criteria include academic reputation (40 per cent), employer reputation (10 per cent), faculty/student ratio (20 per cent), citations per faculty (20 per cent), and international faculty ratio/international student ratio (5 per cent each).