RIYADH — The number of Saudi universities that found a place in the Shanghai Ranking shot up from seven in 2022 to 12 in 2023. Five Saudi universities advanced to the list of the world's top 1,000 universities in the 2023 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), which is also known as Shanghai Ranking. The ARWU ranking for 2023 was unveiled by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. The Saudi universities that advanced to the ranking for the first time are the Riyadh-based Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, the largest woman's university in the world, with a ranking that falls between 601and 700. It was followed by King Faisal University of Dammam, Al-Qassim University and Umm Al-Qura University between the rankings of 801 and 900, and then Al-Jouf University within the 901-1000 ranking. The outcome of the classification confirmed the constant care and follow-up pursued by the Saudi education system and universities over the past years, which contributed to achieving the strategic goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, which reflects the efforts that have been made. Saudi universities achieved distinguished positions, as King Saud University maintained a position between 101-150 globally, followed by King Abdulaziz University, which ranked between 151-200 globally, while Taif University advanced significantly this year by obtaining a position between 201- 300 compared to its 401-500 position in the previous year. The Shanghai classification is one of the three most important global classification agencies, in addition to QS World University Rankings and British Times Higher Education rankings. Since 2003, ARWU has been presenting the world's top universities annually based on transparent methodology and objective third-party data. It has been recognized as the precursor of global university rankings and the most trustworthy one. This year, more than 2500 institutions were scrutinized, and the best 1000 universities in the world are published. Harvard University tops the ranking list for the 21st year, followed by Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As a global classification body, ARWU ranks world's universities according to a set of criteria and standards, including the quality of education, the efficiency of faculty members, the outputs of scientific research, and the size of the institution. The results of the ranking confirmed the continuation of educational successes that reflect the efforts that have been made and the excellence achieved by universities in the Kingdom over the past years, which contributed to achieving the strategic objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030.
