U.S. News Releases 2015 Best Arab Region Universities Rankings

Universities in the Arab region are undergoing a period of rapid transition, with more than a decade of expansion in enrollment, including more female students. Since 2002, the number of institutions in the region has more than doubled, according to a report by the Brookings Institution, a U.S.-based public policy think tank.

Still, with no standardized educational data available, students and parents have had few ways of comparing top universities -- at least until now.

After creating a directory of the 800-plus universities in the region last year, U.S. News has now launched its inaugural Best Arab Region Universities rankings, the most in-depth rankings of their kind. The 2015 rankings include the top Arab region universities overall, based on their academic research performance, as well as separate rankings in 16 subject areas, including computer science, engineering and medicine.

[Read answers to frequently asked questions about the Arab region rankings.]

The overall Best Arab Region Universities rankings feature 91 schools from 16 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Saudi Arabian universities claimed the top three spots in the overall rankings. King Saud University, founded in 1957 in the capital of Riyadh, took the No.1 spot. King Abdulaziz University, based in Jeddah and the largest university in the country, landed in second place, while King Abdullah University of Science & Technology, located in Thuwal and one of the newest schools in the region, earned third place.

Saudi Arabia has about 1 million students enrolled in its universities and colleges, up from 7,000 in 1970, according to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington. Of those, more than half are female.

Egypt's Cairo University, located in Giza, placed No. 4 overall. Lebanon's American University of Beirut, a school based on the American liberal arts model, ranked No. 5.

Egypt was the top-performing country in the overall rankings, with 21 schools featured. About 23 percent of the schools in the rankings were located in the northeast African country, where a European-style education system was introduced by Ottoman rulers in the early 1800s.

Algeria and Saudi Arabia tied for second place, with 13 schools each. Together, Egypt, Algeria and Saudi Arabia accounted for about 52 percent of the ranked schools.

[See how higher education is evolving in the Arab region.]

Beyond the overall rankings of the top 91 institutions, the Best Arab Region Universities subject rankings allow students to compare leading schools in 16 key academic areas. These rankings, which focus on institutions' academic research performance in those specific subjects, are not evaluations of academic majors, departments or specific schools at universities, such as medical schools.

Saudi Arabia had the highest-ranked university in all but one subject -- social sciences. In that discipline, which includes law, education and political science, Lebanon's American University of Beirut took first place.

Three universities were ranked in all 16 subjects: Egypt's Cairo University and Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz University and King Saud University. Egypt's Ain Shams University and Tunisia's Université de Sfax ranked in 15 of the subjects.

The Best Arab Region Universities rankings -- which are based on bibliometric data and research metrics provided by Scopus, part of the Elsevier Research Intelligence portfolio -- are independent of the recently released U.S. News Best Global Universities rankings of the top research universities worldwide. The Arab region rankings are aimed directly at prospective students, parents, policymakers and employers in the region, to allow them to accurately compare institutions.

With that in mind, U.S. News focused specifically on institutions' academic research output and performance, using factors such as the number of published papers and citations, and not on their separate undergraduate or graduate programs.

[Learn how the Best Arab Region Universities rankings were calculated.]

Branch campuses in the Arab region that are operated by a parent university in another country were not considered for the overall or subject rankings. For example, schools such as New York University Abu Dhabi and Carnegie Mellon University Qatar weren't included, since they are operated by universities in the U.S. However, U.S. News has published a list of more than 50 of these branch campuses as a resource for students.

Universities that did well in the inaugural rankings may find their positions shifting in the future. This year's rankings of the Best Arab Region Universities is the first in a series of rankings meant to make information about the region's institutions more transparent and accessible. Moving forward, U.S. News plans to include other ranking factors, including reputation surveys of Arab region academics and employers, as well as school-reported data.

See the complete rankings of the Best Arab Region Universities.

Devon Haynie is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering online education. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dhaynie@usnews.com.