Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) ranked among the best universities in Asia in 2020 in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2020. THE said that the university has seven core values. These are professionalism, excellence, commitment, integrity, loyalty, collaboration and equity.

            The ranking, released yesterday, said that SQU, opened in 1986, ranked among the best 251 Asian universities. It added that SQU started with 500 students; now it hosts more than 7000 male and female students. It also said, "The institution originally had five colleges, but there are now nine in total. These include Medicine and Health Sciences, Engineering, Agriculture and Marine Sciences, Education, Science, Arts and Social Sciences, Commerce and Political Sciences, Law and Nursing.

          THE also pointed out, "The university recruited students from 38 countries while academics hailed from 69 nations. The institution also collaborates with universities across the world; it has agreements with universities in Asia, Europe, Australasia, North America and South America."

          It added that the international students at SQU constitute 4% of the total number of students.

            THE Ranking includes five weighted criteria: Teaching (25%), Research (30%), Citations (30%), Industry Income (7.5%) and the International Outlook (7.5%) and is calculated through thirteen performance indicators that professionally assessed all academic and research aspects of universities.

             These indicators are: Reputation survey: Teaching (10%), Staff-to-student ratio: (4.5%), Doctorate-to-bachelor’s ratio (2.25%), Doctorates-awarded-to-academic-staff ratio (6%), Institutional income (2.25%) Reputation survey – research (15%), Research Income (7.5%), Research productivity (7.5%) Citations impact (30%), Proportion of international students (2.5%), Proportion of international staff (2.5%), International collaboration (2.5%) and Industry Income (7.5%).ONA