Abu Dhabi: Khalifa University of Science and Technology (KUST) has achieved the highest ranking for a UAE university in the latest global university rankings by Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, coming in the 301-350 bracket.

The Khalifa University of Science and Technology was one of 1,102 universities from 77 countries ranked by THE in their annual list for 2018, the universities that reach the top 1,000 represent no more than five per cent of the 20,000 higher education institutions in the world.

Shaikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court and Chairman of the Khalifa University of Science and Technology Board of Trustees, commenting on the achievement, stressed the importance of the ranking as evidence of the quality of the UAE’s education system thanks to the leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The Khalifa University of Science and Technology was established by presidential decree in early 2017 through the merger of the Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (Kustar), Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, and the Petroleum Institute.

Shaikh Hamed said that the new university, with its advanced research and modern facilities, has achieved an even more distinguished international reputation and can compete with the most prestigious universities from all over the world.

Phil Baty, editorial director of Global Rankings at Times Higher Education, was quoted in local media as saying: “This has been a good year in the rankings for the UAE on a number of fronts … First of all, the consolidation of a number of institutions into the recently merged Khalifa University [of Science and Technology] in the rankings calculations has led to the highest ever ranking this year for the UAE — a place in the 301-350 band. This consolidated institution is a strong new flagship asset for the UAE and hopefully will go from strength to strength.”

Before the merger in 2017, the Khalifa University of Science and Technology’s institutes also held high academic rankings. Khalifa University of Science and Technology and Research (Kustar) had previously made the World University Rankings 501-600 bracket in 2017, and was also the youngest university ranked in the list of top 100 universities under 50 years of age. In 2016 Masdar Institute of Science and Technology was ranked as the UAE’s top academic institution in the Nature Index rankings and the top engineering university in the UAE by US News and World Report. In 2015 the Petroleum Institute achieved 20th position in Times Higher Education’s first-ever ranking of the Middle East and North Africa region’s top 30 universities.

Times Higher Education World University Rankings describes itself as the only global performance tables that judge research-intensive undergraduate universities across all their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. It looks at 13 performance indicators to provide a comprehensive and balanced comparison, the calculations of which are subject to independent audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers.