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Directory of varsities in region launched

A United States-based provider of information analysis, US News and World Report, has created a comprehensive directory of more than 800 universities across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) as an initial step towards a broad survey and ranking report on Mena institutions of higher education.

The data set is the beginning of a long-term project to develop a series of surveys and rankings for the region, which will allow a much deeper regional comparison of the various types of institutions than information, which currently appears in other global rankings.

US News editors unveiled a test version of the proposed directory before a group of top regional academic officials at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha. The Arab Region University Directory, which will launch on www.usnews.com later this month, brings together publicly available data on a wide array of Mena universities from all Arab countries. A fully web-enabled, searchable product will debut in early 2014.

Until now, those rankings have typically included few Mena higher educational institutions. Additionally Mena schools have not historically been classified for comparative purposes in the same way as universities in many other regions.

“We want to bring to the Arab and Mena university community the same depth of study that has become so important to parents, students and policymakers in the United States,” said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of US News. “There is a need for both a global and a regional look at these important institutions.”

The effort is part of an expanding global outreach by the Washington-based media company, which for many years has been the leading source of rankings in the areas of education, healthcare, and other products, and has found a growing international interest in its content.

The project was initiated with the encouragement of Shaikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation. The university directory will assist people by creating a greater depth of understanding about the many universities located across the region. Through rigorous and objective research, the US News researchers will create standardised and transparent information that can be used to improve education throughout the region.