Arab universities achieved a milestone in the 2026 edition of the QS World University Rankings, with Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) taking 67th place and becoming the Arab region’s first-ever university to rise into the global top 100.
The new classification, published today by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a British higher-education analytics company, evaluates more than 1,500 institutions around the globe. Among them are 115 universities in 16 Arab countries.
For the fourteenth consecutive year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) maintained its reign at the top, followed by Imperial College London (2nd) and Stanford University (3rd). The United States remained the most represented nation, with 192 universities the 2026 QS World University Rankings.
In other global highlights, Italy, like Saudi Arabia, entered the global top 100 for the first time, with Politecnico di Milano ranked 98th, and China continued its ascent. Peking University held on to 14th place, while Tsinghua University rose to 17th, and Fudan University climbed nine spots to 30th, signalling a strong research-led push.
In the Arab world, Saudi Arabia was the most represented nation with 22 entries, followed by Egypt with 20 entries and Jordan with 16. Across the Arab region, some 42 percent of institutions improved their position, 32 percent maintained their place from last year, and 26 percent dropped.
