Six Saudi universities have attained a national achievement and scientific and academic progress according to one of the most famous international rating centers (ShanghaiRating) for the year 2021, compared to the previous year's ranting , in which 4 Saudi universities have achieved advanced positions.
King Abdulaziz and King Saud universities have come among the top 150 universities around the world according to the Rating. King Abdulaziz University is ranked 101-150 in the world for the second time respectively, while the King Saud university's ranking has advanced form 200- 250 to 101-150 among the top world universities
The "ShanghaiRanking" has placed the six Saudi universities among the top 1000 world universities, where King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is ranked from 201-300 for the second time respectively, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals is ranked from 401-500 for the second time respectively . King Khalid and Taif Universities are ranked from 801- 900 globally for the first time.
The "ShanghaiRanking" is known as the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and depends on the performance of universities in scientific research according to several criteria, including the quality of education, the efficiency of faculty members, the outputs of scientific research, and the size of the institution.
The ShanghaiRanking is one of the world rankings that have various indicators. It gives 30% of the weights to the number of graduates and employees of the university who have won the Nobel Prize and the Fields Medal, and 20% is given to publication in the journals of Nature and Science, and the degree for full-time academics is also weighed during the assessment process.
This achievement has been attained because of the unlimited support provided by the Saudi leadership for the research, development and innovation at the level of the Kingdom, and the great work carried out by the Ministry of Education and universities in order to achieve the objectives of the Kingdom's vision 2030. These objectives include improving the ratings of the Saudi universities within the international ratings. As a result, a number of initiatives were launched and had contributed directly and indirectly to improving the ranking of Saudi universities. These initiatives included international cooperation programs; high-impact research, institutional funding, and other initiatives which were launched during the past years, and had an impact on improving universities’ rankings in all international rankings.