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[Noor]

UAE University in world�s top 400

The National
Daniel Bardsley
Last Updated: October 13. 2009 2:13AM UAE / October 12. 2009 10:13PM GMT

The country�s oldest university has been listed as one of the top 400 higher education institutions in the world for the first time.

UAE University, in Al Ain, shares the 374th position in rankings released by Times Higher Education, a London-based newspaper, and the career and education organisation QS.

The Top Five
1. Harvard University, United States.
2. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
3. Yale University, United States.
4. University College London, United Kingdom.
5. Imperial College London and University of Oxford, both United Kingdom.

Last year, UAE University, founded in 1976 and the oldest federal university in the country, was listed between 401 and 500 in the same table. Institutions that appear outside the top 400 are grouped together rather than ranked individually.

Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the chancellor of UAE University, credited an increase in research at the institution for the improved position.

�This is the most important thing for any university,� he said. �We�re planning to move up the ladder every year.�

The only other universities in Middle Eastern Arab countries in the top 400 are King Saud University (247) and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (266), both in Saudi Arabia, and the American University of Beirut (351).

In joint 374th position with UAE University are Scotland�s Heriot-Watt, which has a branch in Dubai, and Kyung Hee University in South Korea.


Among the institutions ranked lower than UAE University are Bangor University (394) and the University of Aberystwyth (386), both in Wales, the University of Tennessee (380) and Osaka City University (399) in Japan.

The scoring system, in which UAE was awarded 37.5 points out of a possible 100, is 40 per cent based on reviews by academics. Ten per cent of the score is based on an employer survey, 20 per cent on the student-to-faculty ratio, 20 per cent on the number of times research is cited and five per cent each for the proportions of international faculty and international students.

Phil Baty, deputy editor of Times Higher Education, said: �Any institution that�s heading in the direction [of the top 200] is doing the right thing.�

Dr Rory Hume, the provost of UAE University, said its improved ranking showed that �the world is beginning to pay attention to what�s going on here�.

�It�s nice to have that recognition,� he said, adding that �focused investment on people and programmes� was behind the improved showing.

Dr Hume added that he believed the university was on course to be among the world�s top 100 institutions within five years, one of its stated goals.

It is also in the midst of a major reform programme. Next year, it will become the country�s first federal university to offer PhD courses. There had been some �phenomenal applicants�, Dr Hume said.

�We are working on our first group of scholarship and we expect to offer 20 scholarships within a month,� he said.

There are also plans to substantially increase research by taking on more doctoral students each year and hiring academic staff with international reputations.

Next year, the university will move to a new campus, where all functions will be consolidated. Currently the university is scattered across several campuses.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091013/NATIONAL/710129886

[helmsman]

I am still waiting to be impressed. I wonder how the place ranks in terms of undergraduate achievement? Anyway, it's good that they will be hiring more academics. A bigger university equals more jobs, including English teachers. The new campus will be a nice place to work too.

[ardiles81]

OK - the good honest folk who put together these lists have done their research and know far more than me on these things but given the choice - would you send your kids to the ever improving UAEU or the underachieving Herriot Watt?

I know where mine would go - which is not to denigrate the success of UAEU and similar of getting so many students to an IELTS 4.5 or 5

[hurricane]

http://www.economist.com/world/middleeast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14660446

[helmsman]

An interesting snippet from the Economist article above: "A listing of the world�s top 500 universities, compiled annually by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, includes three South African and six Israeli universities, but not a single Arab one." Seems they overlooked UAEU. Thanks, hurricane.

[ckhl]

Seems they overlooked UAEU.

I don't think they overlooked UAEU. The Shanghai rankings are, I believe, not the same as the ones quoted in the thread. Correct me if I am wrong.

[ckhl]

http://www.arwu.org/rank2008/en2008.htm

I also believe the rankings complied by Shanghai Jiao Tong University have a higher following than that from the Times Education Supplement.

[Sheikh N Bake]

The Chinese one is more credible. It's also interesting to note that there's not a single German institution, not even Heidelberg, in the Chinese top 50. (That's basically because without tuition fees or any tradition of alumni donations, they are inadequately financed...leading to overcrowding and other quality problems).

The Times Higher Educ Supplement doesn't know anything about the US university system, and their criteria are debatable. For one thing, one criterion is the number of foreign students on campus. In that case Miami-Dade Community College should enjoy considerably greater prestige than it does, considering it enrolls 5,000 or more foreign students.

They also ignore the prestigious and highly competitive liberal arts colleges such as Swarthmore, Vassar, etc. etc. Rich people all over the world send their kids to those schools--many of which also offer master's degrees in both liberal arts and the hard sciences.

[freegeorge]

Notice you took off the topic of UGRU -- too many negativities?

[ckhl]

Notice you took off the topic of UGRU -- too many negativities?

Yes.
Or...it's risible. I wonder if some political correctness isn't involved in the rankings awarding UAEU.

[Iamherebecause]

Shanghai Jiaotong Daxue has yet to publish this year's rankings: they normally come out in August. Odd to see the Economist using 2008 data in a 2009 article.

All these rankings ae tendentious. One thing where UAEU does well is on number of expat faculty members - but we are all here not because it's such a great place to teach and research, but because there are not many locals who can fill academic posts.

[veiledsentiments]

[Sheikh N Bake]

Prestigious research universities in the States do recruit from overseas now and then, however. They like to poach superstars where they can get them. But of course I'm talking about a few here and there, not the bulk of the faculty.

If the THES actually counts that factor in absolute numbers as a plus, it's yet another example of their faulty methodology, along with the simple counting of numbers of foreign students at a given campus.

[Dedicated]

The Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings are wholly research based (mainly in subjects where the majority of research output is via journal papers, hence the high citation rate). They lack the element of peer review which counts for 40% of the THE-QS assessment.

see <http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp>

See also the future changes that will be made to THE -QS :
<http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=408881&c=1>

[Sheikh N Bake]

I will be the first to admit that most people in China show a heavy bias toward US universities. Harvard is, according to China observer Annie Wang, not to mention my own impression while there, the brand name in China today--eclipsing the old consumer product standbys such as Versace, iPhone and BMW. Books with titles like My Days at Harvard automatically become top sellers. And if name droppers can't get into Harvard or Stanford or MIT, UCLA will do (as will Boston U: at least they can say "Oh, I went to college in Boston.")