Nablus - "Jerusalem" dot com - Every year, with the release of high school results, thousands of students are confused about the nature of the majors they should study, and most importantly, where?

In 2022, 58,107 male and female students passed out of 85,300 who sat for the general secondary exam. The latest report issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, under the title “Fields of Study and Relationship to the Labor Market for Individuals 20-29 Years Old,” shows that the number of graduates of Palestinian higher education institutions reached 41,137 male and female graduates. The academic year 2019/2020, while the local labor market annually absorbs an average of 9,000 job opportunities for graduates only.

In Palestine, the number of accredited and licensed educational institutions is 51 higher education institutions, including 16 traditional universities, and two universities for open education, according to the annual statistical book of Palestinian higher education institutions issued by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research for the year 2020/2021.

Thus, students must carefully choose their specializations as well as the educational institution that meets their aspirations, bearing in mind that the geographical factor - the proximity of the educational institution - the value of fees and expenses, the university student environment, the university's reputation and its global ranking are all factors that play an important role in this regard.

The last factor, which students may not give much weight to, is an important factor, especially after graduation, as higher education institutions in Palestine in general, and universities in particular, compete for advanced ranks in international rankings. Education quality, academic and research level, and other criteria that will be addressed in this report.

What are the most reliable global rankings?

There are many international rankings, and they differ in their methodology, indicators, standards, calculation methods, and work mechanisms, and there is nothing that can determine the superiority of one classification over another. However, analytical studies agree that the three most famous and most widespread and credible international classifications are the Chinese Shanghai Classification - Academic Ranking of World Universities. World University), the British Times Higher Education rankings, and the British QS University Rankings.

Shanghai Academic Ranking of World University:
This classification began by evaluating the level of Chinese universities compared to others around the world, but then it became one of the best accredited international classifications, which is relied upon by all countries around the world in evaluating and ranking universities, and is based in its criteria on the availability of graduates and teachers from the university who have won Nobel Prizes, Research production in international journals, and others.

These standards are among the most difficult in international rankings, and there are no Palestinian universities included in this classification due to the difficulty of achieving its standards.

Times Higher Education University Rankings:

The Times magazine began issuing annual rankings of universities since 2004, and it has evolved from its classification several times to become one of the most famous international rankings, and annually issues several rankings, such as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which includes the best about 1,600 universities around the world, And the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which includes the best universities in the world in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations in 2015, and this classification includes about 1,400 universities around the world in its latest version, in addition to the Times classification according to geographical region, This includes the Times Arab University Rankings, the Asia University Rankings, and the Emerging Economies University Rankings.

The Times Magazine classification criteria are generally based on measuring the quality of the educational environment, scientific research, research citations, university internationality, and income from industries. These criteria include a number of indicators, which differ in their weights from one sub-classification to another.

As for the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, it contains indicators to measure the university's performance in achieving the 17 sustainable development goals.

With regard to the status of Palestinian universities in this classification, it appears, based on the results published on the websites, that An-Najah National University is unique in its presence in Palestine in the Times World University Rankings and among the top 500 universities in the world, and the ranking of universities in countries with emerging economies is ranked 94 among universities in those countries. countries, and the ranking of universities in the continent of Asia ranked 89 on the continent.

The reason for the uniqueness of An-Najah University in these classifications is due to the existence of conditions for the participation of universities in them, which depend mainly on scientific research, and only An-Najah University could achieve them.

As for the other sub-rankings issued by the Times magazine, it also appears that An-Najah University ranked first in the Times classification of Arab universities, at a rank of 51-60, followed by Birzeit University, at a rank of 61-70 among Arabs.

With regard to the Times classification of the impact related to the achievement of sustainable development goals, four Palestinian universities appeared in the classification, namely An-Najah University among the best 200 universities in the world, Birzeit University among the best 300 universities in the world, and both Arab American University and the Islamic University in Gaza among the best 1000 universities in the world. .

QS University Rankings:

This classification is published by Quacquarelli Symonds, a company specializing in higher education, based in the United Kingdom. Such as the QS Arab University Rankings, the QS World University Rankings by Subject, the QS Graduate Employability Rankings, and others.

The QS classification criteria depend mainly on academic and operational reputation criteria, and it is measured through a questionnaire circulated to academics and operators around the world, as well as standards for teacher-to-student ratio, research citations, and international student-teacher ratios. These criteria and their weights vary based on the sub-classification.

With regard to the status of Palestinian universities in this classification, it is better than its position in the Times magazine rankings. Based on the latest published data from the institution, three Palestinian universities were able to participate in the QS classification version of international universities, which are An-Najah University, Al-Quds University, Birzeit University, and Kan An-Najah University and Al-Quds University are ranked among the top 1,200 universities, with a slight difference between the two universities.

As for the results of Palestinian universities in the QS Arab University Rankings version, 8 Palestinian universities appeared in this classification, namely An-Najah University (46 Arab), Birzeit University (one of the best 60 Arab universities), and Al-Quds University (one of the best). 70 Arab universities), the Islamic University in Gaza (of the best 120 Arab universities), the Arab American University (of the best 130 Arab universities), Al-Azhar University in Gaza, Palestine Polytechnic University and Palestine Technical University Kadoorie (of the best 180 Arab universities).