Abu Dhabi University has made significant gains in Times Higher Education’s (THE) World University Rankings, to become one of the top ranked universities in the Middle East for the first time.
Abu Dhabi University is the highest ranked university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), sitting just outside the top 200, coming in the 201-250 band in THE’s largest World University Rankings. Khalifa University is the second highest ranked university coming 251-300 and the third highest ranked university is United Arab Emirates University which came 301-350.
In the 20th year of the ranking 1,904 universities – up from 1,799 last year – from 108 countries and regions are ranked. THE’s World University Rankings 2024 are the most comprehensive, rigorous and balanced global ranking assessing research-intensive universities across 18 performance indicators covering their core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and internationalisation.
Abu Dhabi University is the highest ranked university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Some universities in the UAE have made good gains in this year’s ranking with:
- Abu Dhabi University moving up from band 301-350 last year to 201-250
- Khalifa University also moving up from band 351-400 last year to 251-300
- Zayed University moving up from 501-600 band last year to 401-500
Two universities dropped in the rankings and one stayed in the same band. On average UAE universities rose by 89 positions. There are six universities ranked from UAE.
Top six universities in United Arab Emirates in THE’s World University Rankings 2024
| Institution | 2024 Rank | 2023 Rank |
| Abu Dhabi University | 201–250 | 301–350 |
| Khalifa University | 251–300 | 351–400 |
| United Arab Emirates University | 301–350 | 251–300 |
| University of Sharjah | 351–400 | 251–300 |
| Zayed University | 401–500 | 501–600 |
| American University of Sharjah | 601–800 | 601–800 |
Several updates have been made to World University Rankings 2024 methodology to include unprecedented levels of breadth, depth, detail and assessment of data making it the most rigorous and robust ranking of its kind in the world.
”With the government’s continued investment in higher education and research it’s highly likely we’ll see a UAE university in the top 200 in the coming years.”
This year there are 18 calibrated performance indicators (up from 13 last year), which are grouped into five pillars: teaching, research quality, research environment, international outlook and industry. Four of the five new metrics include three that look at research quality and one that examines patents in the industry pillar.
Phil Baty, THE’s Chief global affairs officer, said:
“Universities from the UAE are knocking on the door of the world’s top 200 universities, which is an extremely impressive achievement for such a young nation and given where higher education and research was in the country just a decade ago. UAE’s progress has been exceptional.
“With the government’s continued investment in higher education and research it’s highly likely we’ll see a UAE university in the top 200 in the coming years.”
The UK’s University of Oxford is the highest ranked university in the world in the WUR with Stanford University taking second place, making it the US’s top ranked university, and in third place is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
THE’s top 10 universities in the world
| Institution | Country/Region | 2024 Rank |
| University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 1 |
| Stanford University | United States | 2 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States | 3 |
| Harvard University | United States | 4 |
| University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 5 |
| Princeton University | United States | 6 |
| California Institute of Technology | United States | 7 |
| Imperial College London | United Kingdom | 8 |
| University of California, Berkeley | United States | 9 |
| Yale University | United States | 10 |
View the full World University Rankings 2024 results (link live 18:00 GST time, Wednesday 27 September) and see World University Rankings 2024 methodology.