The Lebanese University achieves a new record in the “QS World University Rankings 2022”, gaining 98 places, compared to last year, in the "professional reputation" indicator. Accordingly, the Lebanese University ranked 2nd locally for its academic and professional reputation, while private universities experienced a drop in their results.

QS Indicators

The QS World University Rankings of the world's top 1,300 universities use 6 indicators:

Academic Reputation (40%)

Employer Reputation (10%)

Faculty/Student Ratio (20%)

Citations per faculty (20%)

International Faculty Ratio (5%)

International Student Ratio (5%)

The general ranking of Lebanese universities

In the overall ranking of world universities, the American University of Beirut (AUB) lost 22 places and the Lebanese American University (LAU) lost 30 places, ranking 242nd and 581-590th respectively. The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) and the University of Balamand both move up 10 places, reaching 531-540th and 501-510th respectively. As for the Lebanese University, it maintained its 701-750th position.

The Lebanese University on the rise

There is no doubt that the “employer reputation” indicator is of great importance to students, particularly because it indicates the extent of the university success in integrating its graduates into the workforce, the quality of its teaching, and the relevance of its disciplines to the needs of the labor market.

This indicator, which accounts for 10% of the overall score, is based on the status of graduates with employers and calculated by surveying employer opinions locally and globally. In the “QS World University Rankings 2022”, the Lebanese University ranked 219th globally, gaining 98 places from 2021, and 2nd locally in the " employer reputation" indicator. A qualitative achievement proving that the university has largely succeeded in training a local and global elite.

The significant drop of private universities

In the QS World University Rankings 2022, AUB moved from 108th to 149th internationally, LAU from 266th to 359th and USJ from 237th to 310th in the "employer reputation" indicator.

The Lebanese University ranked 2nd locally for its academic reputation

The academic reputation has the highest percentage of all QS indicators. It is measured by an academic survey that collects the opinions of experts in the field of higher education, regarding the quality of teaching in the world's universities, in what has become the largest academic opinion survey in the world. In the 2022 ranking, the Lebanese University ranked 2nd locally, reflecting the high and distinguished level of its academic body.

Citations per faculty

Scientific research is one of the main pillars of higher education institutions. The quality of research is measured in terms of citations for each faculty, by dividing the total number of citations received by a university's research articles over a five-year period by the number of faculty members in a faculty. All citation and publication data are obtained using "Scopus", the world's largest transdisciplinary database.

The indicator "citations per faculty" accounts for 20% of the overall score. In the 2022 ranking, the Lebanese University is positioned 6th locally. Thus, there is a need for the university to intensify research work in relation to the number of faculty members, and to increase the budget devoted to its work. It is noteworthy the Lebanese University professors move from one rank to another according to the number of research articles published, especially on "Scopus".

Thus, the administrations of the Lebanese University faculties play a major role in strengthening the research activities of their professors, which is essential for raising the scientific level of the university. For more than two years now, several LU faculty members have been waiting for their applications for evaluation of their research work to be processed by the appropriate committee within their faculty in order to obtain the rank of professor. Noting that a number of these works are published in "Scopus", and that in 2017 a circular was issued by the President to complete the processing of these applications within one month. Therefore, the university should ensure to find the necessary and indispensable means to encourage the publication work of its faculty.

A qualitative achievement despite neglect and marginalization

There is also no doubt that the remarkable progress made by the Lebanese University in terms of employer reputation on a global scale reflects the high confidence of employers, locally and internationally, in the high and distinguished level of its graduates. Therefore, the university’s ranking 2nd locally, in the "academic and employer reputation" indicators, should encourage the competent authorities to further support the university, especially in the current circumstances.

This achievement would not have been possible without the presence of a team of top-notch professors, who do what is necessary to raise the level and reputation of the university on a global scale, which requires full-time dedication to carry out their research activities and contribute to the development of the local and international community.

However, the Lebanese University is not in the best of shape. It is neglected and suffers from massive marginalization that amounts to an existential threat. The rights and demands of its faculty have gone unmet for many years, before the current economic crisis hit.

The university will not get better as long as the files of full-time contractual professors are not addressed, the University Council is absent, and its budget is not sufficient to conduct academic and research work.

The teaching staff of the Lebanese University are proud of the remarkable progress that has been made on a global level. They will spare no effort to move up in the world university rankings. However, this issue requires that the authorities give the university the necessary attention and support, in order to ensure the continuity of this national institution, and the future of the Lebanese youth, especially since the university gathers more than half of the students in Lebanon.

Source: Al-Modon, 11 June 2021