Source: Facebook/KingAbdulazizUniversity

The higher education think tank, QS, just ranked universities around the world, and a Saudi university beat all other Arab institutions for 2020.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz University ranked No. 1 in the Arab world, coming out at No. 186 worldwide. KAU surpassed Lebanon's American University of Beirut (AUB), which >outranked the Saudi university for the first time in 2017. The total number of students enrolled in KAU stands at 33,492. As for the academic faculty, there is a total of 4,162 members.

KAU was established in 1967 and is now recognized as a world-class university with global outreach and collaboration projects in the fields of research and innovation. 

KAU jumped 45 spots in just one year

Other Saudi universities in the ranking:

Source: Top Universities

In Saudi Arabia, here are the five top-ranked universities: 

  1. King Abdulaziz University (No. 186 globally)
  2. King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (No. 200 globally) 
  3. King Saud University (No. 281 globally )
  4. King Khalid University (No. 501-510 globally)
  5. Umm Al-Qura University (No. 501-510 globally)

The Top 10 Arab Universities

  1. King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia)
  2. King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (Saudi Arabia)
  3. American University of Beirut (Lebanon)
  4. Khalifa University (UAE)
  5. Qatar University (Qatar)
  6. King Saud University (Saudi Arabia)
  7. UAE University (UAE)
  8. American University of Sharjah (UAE)
  9. Sultan Qaboos University (Oman)
  10. American University of Cairo (Egypt)

"It is clear that the universities from the Arab Region are breaking new ground in the search for excellence, with institutions in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman all reaching record highs," said Ben Sowter, director of research at the QS World University Rankings.

Globally, the top-ranked university is Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) followed by Stanford University (No. 2) and Harvard University (No. 3).

This year's ranking is the 16th edition of the annual report. A total of 1,000 institutions were evaluated and placed accordingly in the ranking. From the Arab region, only 37 universities made it to the actual ranking.