The higher education think tank, QS, just ranked The American University of Beirut (AUB) as the number 1 university in the Arab world for 2017.
This is the first time AUB earns the top spot. The prestigious academic institution had come second to King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in the three previous editions of QS's regional university rankings.
In an official statement on the matter, AUB's provost, Mohamed Harajli said:
“This remarkable accomplishment is a matter of pride for all – students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of AUB – and it could not have been achieved without the collective effort, hard work, and determination of each and every member of the AUB community in the pursuit of excellence."
The regional QS University Rankings are based on 9 key indicators including "academic reputation (30%), employer reputation (20%), faculty-student ratio (20%), web impact (10%), papers per faculty (5%), citations per paper (5%), percent of faculty with PhD (5%), percent of international faculty (2.5%), and percent of international students (2.5%)."
AUB ranked among the top 10 on 5 of the 9 indicators. It also ranked first when it came to employer reputation, 5th for web impact, 7th for academic reputation, 8th for papers per faculty and 9th for citations per paper.
The Arab world's top 10 universities
Not the first top QS ranking for AUB
Earlier last month, AUB also topped the QS list which ranks universities in order of graduate employability.
The university ranked No. 41 globally, overtaking prestigious universities like McGill University (No.42), Boston University (No. 51) and London School of Economics and Political Science (No. 54).
Globally, Stanford University ranked No. 1 followed by the University of California, Los Angeles at No. 2.
Regionally, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals ranked No. 2 in the Arab world when it comes to its spot in the global ranking of graduate employability. It ranked No. 201 globally in this respect.