FOCUS ON TECHNOLOGY TAKES KHALIFA UNIVERSITY TO UAE’S BEST RANKING IN THE LIST OF TOP 1,000

▶ Ten-year-old institution leaps 150 positions to help UAE climb the ratings and put region’s seats of learning among best 500

The UAE improved its rankings in this year’s World University Rankings, with Khalifa University of Science and Technology the standout performer, shooting into the 301 to 350 band.

This is the best ranking achieved by a UAE institution on the list, which is compiled annually by Times Higher Education and includes 1,102 universities from 77 countries.

Khalifa University climbed at least 150 positions this year after being ranked in the 501 to 600 band last year, and it is the first time it is included since it merged with Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and the Petroleum Institute.

The university – which was founded in 2007 after a decree from President Sheikh Khalifa – was also the youngest seat of learning to make the 2016 QS list of 100 best universities in the world established in the past 50 years.

UAE University was placed in the 501 to 600 bracket, the same as last year.

American University of Sharjah was placed in the 601 to 800 bracket, after not being ranked last year, and University of Sharjah was placed in the 801 to 1,000 band, having also been unranked last year.

Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed, chairman of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court and chairman of the board of trustees for Khalifa University, said the ranking was proof of the quality of education in the country and what it has achieved over a few years.

“It employs all its efforts and capabilities to graduate the next generation of young people that is capable of taking responsibility to build the country and enhance its role in enhancing the country’s economic role,” he said.

Among the top universities in the Middle East and North Africa was the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in first place and King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia in second. Khalifa University was fifth.

Dr Tod Laursen, president and professor of mechanical engineering at Khalifa University, said the result was a huge boost considering the university is barely 10 years old.

“It’s a sign that we are clearly on the right track. Students take great pride in studying here – it’s named after the Ruler – and they are now recognised and appreciated on a global scale,” he said.

Dr Laursen also credited the Government for its support.

“There has been great government support. If you listen to what people are going through in Europe and the US for basic academic needs – that hasn’t been a problem for us.”

He said research was improving in the UAE, but support for basic science was still missing. But he expects that to change over the next 10 to 15 years.

“Our focus will always be on Emirati students. So in that sense, we are not worried about competition from international campuses opening up in the UAE, because their main market is expats.

“The international competition for us comes in a different way – it comes from the Government’s scholarship programmes that send talented local students to the best places in the world. So we’re not competing with the likes of Middlesex – we’re competing with Berkeley and the University of Illinois, and Imperial. Because we want to get the creme de la creme of the local students.”

Dr Laursen said the university would like to see itself listed in the top 200 of the world rankings within the next five years.

“I think the aspiration for the country as a whole will be much higher than that. This country is very aspirational.”

Last year the university opened an extension that houses 44 laboratories, including aerospace and underwater robotics labs, and 33 classrooms.

The university organises the Mohammed bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge in which international teams from 45 academic institutions and robotics companies compete to use unmanned aerial and ground vehicles to locate, land on moving vehicles as well as physically operate a valve on them and carry out tasks using still and moving objects.

In May, Khalifa University of Science and Technology won all the awards in the national organisations category of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award, which was launched to encourage the worldwide research in sustainable and innovative solutions to address clean water scarcity using solar energy.

The University of UAE and the American University of Sharjah also featured in the rankings – their positions were to be announced in London yesterday.

Phil Baty, editorial director of global rankings at Times Higher Education, said: “This has been a good year in the rankings for the UAE on a number of fronts.

“First of all, the consolidation of a number of institutions into the recently merged Khalifa University in the rankings calculations this year led to the highest ranking yet for the UAE – a place in the 301 to 350 band. This consolidated institution is a strong new flagship asset for the UAE and hopefully will go from strength to strength.”

Baty said it was encouraging to see UAEU and the American University of Sharjah hold on to their positions from last year, amid increasing competition, while he welcomed the arrival of the University of Sharjah to the global rankings.

He pointed out that it is not easy to break into the top 1,000. “Our top 1,000 list represents just 5 per cent of the world’s higher education institutions, so institutions must meet global standards to be included.”

This is the 14th edition of Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, which is considered the definitive list of the top 1,000 institutions from 77 countries.