Harvard University has topped the list of university rankings for the 8 consecutive year. No Egyptian or Middle Eastern universities featured on the list.
Zaki al-Beheiri, a professor at the University of Mansoura, said that large class sizes, lack of funding and not enough proper educational facilities such as libraries and laboratories explain why Arab and Middle Eastern universities did not feature on the list.
The highest-ranked non-US institutions this year were Britain's Cambridge and Oxford universities, in fifth and tenth places respectively.
The University of Tokyo, placed 20th on the list was the highest rated institution in the Asia-Pacific region.The rankings are focused almost entirely on a university's achievements in scientific research, using criteria such as the number of Nobel prizes and Fields medals won by staff and alumni, and the number of articles by faculty published in Nature and Science magazines.
