By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: Universities in the Arab region lack standardised data, specifically on research work by faculty, say experts.
Information on academic research by faculty at many universities are not made public, according to Robert Morse, Chief Data Strategist and Head of Educational Research, US News & World Report, a US-based publisher of education analyses and rankings.
The inaugural rankings of universities in the region were unveiled recently at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE 2014).
The rankings measure the quality of faculty based on published research papers in the last five years. The work, funded by Qatar Foundation, is a five-year initiative.
Based on universities’ academic research performance, the report allow students to compare more than 90 institutions in 16 countries in the region.
There are separate rankings in 16 subject areas.
“Nothing existed, there isn’t any data about the universities in the Mena region,” said Morse.
“Some universities might have but they are not made available. For example, Qatar University, I’m sure, has data on its performance, but not available to be used against any other school,” he said.
Finding data about university faculty and their academic work had been a bigger challenge in making the first rankings list for the region.
Brian Kelly, Editor and chief Content Officer, US News & World Report, said, “Lack of standardised data, asking schools for information and then, making sure that it’s accurate,” was one of the big challenges.
On the method followed in ranking the universities, Kelly said, “Quality of the faculty and how much research they have done and how high is the quality of the research, do their works have an impact, are their works published in any top journals, are what we basically measured.”
Two Saudi universities — King Saud University and King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals — were ranked top among 91 measured as meeting the high quality of research by faculty.
Qatar University was ranked 29 among 46 universities in the list.
In the next phase of rankings, the US News & World Report will analyse the quality of graduates and their acceptance into the job market.
“Next year we would be doing a survey in the region, asking about universities, employers who would choose graduates from which university, what would be their first choice? We will also seek the opinion of academics,” said Kelly.
Egypt is the top-performing country, with 21 universities in the overall rankings, accounting for 23.1 percent of all ranked schools and institutions.
The Peninsula
