Dear AUB Alumni,



The American University of Beirut has made its mark strongly in a new measure introduced by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking organization, highlighting the employability of graduates of different universities worldwide.



AUB came in the 81-90 bracket, coming first not just in the Arab countries, but the whole of the MENA region, and it was ranked 32nd in one of the five categories being measured. “This ranking is evidence of AUB's success in achieving its mission by producing outstanding graduates, many of whom go on in their careers to join the world’s most innovative, creative, prosperous, entrepreneurial, and/or philanthropic individuals,” said Director of AUB Libraries, Dr. Lokman Meho. Dr. Meho told us that although it was a new ranking which started as a pilot in the 2015-16 academic year and makes its debut this year, it uses a credible range of indicators and is based on a large sample of more than 37,000 employers worldwide.



QS published its list of the top 300 institutions for employability of their students, based on reputation with employers (30% of the score); alumni outcomes, i.e. how successful alumni are (20%); institutions’ relations with external partners (25%); employer-student connections (15%); and graduate employment rate (10%).



AUB was ranked 78th in employer reputation and 32nd in alumni outcomes. It also achieved a 72nd spot in employer-student connections through which students are given the opportunity to network with businesses and launch their careers as early as they can. No other institution in the MENA region was ranked higher than 150. Khalifa University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals were both ranked in the 151-200 bracket, while the American University in Cairo, American University of Sharjah, and Cairo University were all ranked in the 201+ category. The highest-ranked institution in terms of employability under the QS criteria was Stanford University, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) coming in second place.



This ranking follows AUB’s phenomenal rise in the QS World University Rankings in September, when it improved by 40 places to reach the 228th spot.



http://www.aub.edu.lb/news/2016/Pages/qs-alumni.aspx