The Top Five Research Universities in MENA? Maybe

By Benjamin Plackett. An early peek at the Times Higher Education’s list of the best research universities in the Middle East and North Africa has selections that may raise some scientists and scholars’ eyebrows:
The Times Higher Education (THE) choices for the top five research institutions in the region are:
– Texas A&M at Qatar
– Lebanese American University
– King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia)
– Qatar University
– American University of Beirut
Strong variation between THE results and other rankings companies may hint at the difficulty of getting robust data in the MENA region and of doing reliable rankings­—problems that rankings critics have long pointed out. THE is tackling the critics head on by releasing its “sneak peek” and then discussing its criteria at a conference later this month. More...