King Saud University has moved up to the 200th rank internationally while King Fahd University was at 221st rank according to QS World University Ranking for 300 top universities. The two were 221 and 255 in the last ranking in 2010. The QS ranking is one of the most famous with its criteria depending on educational and academic elements with transparency, which includes the quality of scientific research at the university, the average rate of periodic publication of the university's research at international magazines, the quality of education which depends on the smallest number of students for each teaching staff, and the international reputation of the university which is represented in attracting foreign students and researchers from all over the world. King Saud came in the rank 261 at Shanghai Rankings of 2011. The QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) is a ranking of the world's top universities by using a methodology that has published annually since 2004. Between 2004 and 2009, Quacquarelli Symonds produced the rankings in partnership with Times Higher Education (THE). In 2009, THE announced they would produce their own rankings in partnership with Thomson Reuters. After criticism from universities, THE cited a weakness in the methodology of the original rankings, as well as a perceived favoritism in the existing methodology for science over the humanities, as one of the key reasons for the decision to split with QS.
