QS Arab Region Rankings 2021: Abu Dhabi University Ranked First in the Region for International Faculty and Students’ Diversity

Abu Dhabi University (ADU) has been ranked first in the region for international faculty and students’ diversity according to the 2021 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Arab Region University Rankings, improving six places in international faculty and seven places in international students since the previous cycle. This is following last year’s success when ADU was named among the top 10 Arab Universities for faculty and student diversity, ranking 7th in the Arab Region for International Faculty, and 8th for International Students with over 80 nationalities.

In terms of positional rankings, ADU has improved in several indicators, including Academic Reputation, ranking 32nd in the QS Arab Region Rankings, rising three places since last cycle and improving 15 places since the 2019 cycle.  It has also improved in positional rankings for Faculty-Student ratio within its tier rank, as well as for Web Impact indicators improving four places.

The university made great strides in its research performance. Since the previous rankings cycle, ADU has achieved a substantial growth of 51% in accumulated normalized citations and a 31% increase in accumulated normalized papers published. This ongoing success has seen the university grow 75% in its overall six-year citation count and 38% in papers published from the previous cycle across key disciplines including Life Sciences, Engineering and Technology, and Social and Natural Sciences.

Furthermore, ADU has performed 47% higher than the Arab Region average improving 4.8% more than last year.

Professor Waqar Ahmad, Chancellor of Abu Dhabi University, commented: “We are immensely proud to see ADU rank first in the Arab region for International faculty and students, which is a testament to the culture of diversity that ADU is keen to foster, as we continue to nurture a growing and diverse student and faculty population. We attribute this success to our international top-level academic expertise, our holistic learning environment, our rich academic curriculum that offer students a competitive-edge, and the reputation we built as a research-oriented university recognized nationally, regionally, and internationally.”

First published in 2014, the annual QS Arab Region University Rankings highlights leading universities in this part of the world. This year’s edition has seen the entry of 32 new entrants compared to
five new entrants in the previous year. Rankings were compiled by assessing universities on ten performance indicators including academic reputation, international faculty and students, faculty-student ratio, citations per paper and web impact.