UAE universities in record performance for QS global subject rankings

Eight departments at universities across the Emirates break into the top 200 worldwide

United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain has a strong standing in research and offers one of the country's main medicine degrees. Randi Sokoloff / The National

Khalifa University has rapidly climbed the global rankings in recent years but was knocked off the UAE top spot this year by UAEU. It boasts a nuclear engineering school staffed by top nuclear scientists, many of them from South Korea. Chris Whiteoak / The National

With its its striking architecture, American University of Sharjah offers about two dozen major degrees including humanities, engineering and business to about 5,000 students. It often scores strongly in global rankings and is particularly popular with Arab expat students. Alamy Photo

University of Sharjah was established in 1997 and is one of the country's largest, with about 14,000 students enroled. It also has campuses in the town of Dhaid and in Kalba, in Sharjah's east coast enclave. Wikicommons

A department at a university in the UAE has ranked among the top 25 in the world.

The petroleum engineering department at Khalifa University was rated 21 worldwide, a jump from its former position of 28, in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021.

Higher education institutions in the country had their best performance to date in the renowned ranking with eight new departments entering the global university table.

Universities in the Emirates improved ranks in traditional areas, including engineering and computer science but also broke ground in departments like art, design and architecture.

UAE University’s petroleum engineering department ranked in the top 100 globally, while the same department at the University of Sharjah placed in the top 150.

QS World University Rankings by Subject studied the performance of 35 departments at six of the country's universities. A total of 14,435 programmes, taken by students at 1,452 universities worldwide were included in the study.

Quacquarelli Symonds, a global education research consultancy, compared the world’s higher education institutions on four criteria marked out of 100.

Researchers reviewed the universities' academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations and the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar.

“One major factor behind the improving performance of the UAE’s universities is increasing employer recognition of the nation’s graduates," said QS spokesperson, Jack Moran.

“In last year’s edition of our rankings, only five of the UAE’s programmes received a score of 70/100 or more for employer reputation.

“This year, three more of the UAE’s departments have attained a score of 70/100 or more for employer reputation, which indicates that employers across the world are more likely to nominate the country’s graduates as being strong hires."

We are aware we are sitting at the same table with the top countries in the world

Mr Moran said some UAE universities had also improved their research performance this year and that local institutions would benefit from continuing to think globally.

“This means collaborating internationally on research projects, trying to attract top talent from across the world – both students and academics,” he said.

Apart from engineering departments, universities in the country were recognised for their arts and humanities programmes. The art and design and architecture departments at American University of Sharjah placed in the top 200 worldwide.

United Arab Emirates University entered the top 100, placing in the 51-100 band for their petroleum engineering programme.

American University of Sharjah has one of the world’s best accounting and finance programmes, placing in the 151-200 bracket.

Emad El Najjar, stands at the distilling station at UAE University lab, where a research team is investigating the use of date pits to produce biodiesel. Reem Mohammed / The National

Philip Purnell, head of rankings at UAE University, said he was happy that the university had entered the tables in two new subjects, petroleum engineering and arts and humanities.

UAE University improved its position in eight disciplines, and was ranked for 16 different subjects.

"We are aware we are sitting at the same table with the top countries in the world," said Mr Purnell.

"There has been a lot of investment in terms of technology, we have a new dean, and the level of student learning has been enhanced."

He said the university would focus on medicine, space, cultural heritage, arts and humanities. UAEU is also seeking to increase international collaboration and partnerships.

"We are going expand the college of medicine will try to broaden the range of subjects."

Mr Purnell said there had been a steep rise in research published in the leading international journals, which helped boost the university's position.

UAEU is also involved in the phase 3 trials for the Russian Sputnik Covid-19 vaccine with some tests being conducted at the university's laboratories.

At a global level, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology were the strongest-performing institutions ranked number-one in 12 subjects.

The UK's higher education sector remained resilient with 13 of the 51 subject tables topped by a British university.

The University of Oxford had five departments that earned the top rank.

Chinese universities had a record number of programmes that made the top 50.