Higher Education: Significant progress for Egyptian universities in the Dutch Leiden Classification for the year 2025

CWTS Leiden Ranking announced The Netherlands published its new results for the year 2025, which showed remarkable progress for Egyptian universities, within the framework of the continuous progress achieved by Egyptian universities in various prestigious international classifications.

Dr. Ayman Ashour, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, appreciated the results, stressing that the inclusion of Egyptian universities in a prestigious international classification such as the Leiden classification reflects the great development witnessed by the higher education and scientific research system in Egypt, and the state’s efforts to support universities to raise their competitiveness in At the global level, in implementation of the directives of the political leadership and in accordance with the National Strategy for Higher Education and Scientific Research, which adopts the principle of international reference.

The Minister praised the great efforts made by Egyptian universities in their various branches to develop the education system and raise the level of academic and research performance towards internationalization and achieving international quality standards.

The Leiden Classification for 2025 is based on two main methodologies: The first is the CWTS Leiden Ranking Traditional Edition 2025, which relies on data from the Web of Science platform, and 15 Egyptian universities have been listed in it, namely: Cairo University, Ain Shams University, Mansoura University, Alexandria University, Zagazig University, Al-Azhar University, Tanta University, Assiut University, Menoufia University, Beni Suef University, Banha University, Kafr El-Sheikh University, Minya University, Suez Canal University, and Helwan.

The second methodology is the CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition 2025, which was launched two years ago and relies on data from the OpenAlex platform, and has witnessed the inclusion of 29 Egyptian universities among 2,800 international universities.

Cairo University topped the Egyptian universities, followed in the ranking by Ain Shams University, then Mansoura University, then Alexandria University, and Zagazig University, Al-Azhar University, Tanta University, Assiut University, Menoufia University, and Banha University.

The list also included Beni Suef University, Minya University, Helwan University, Suez Canal University, Kafr El-Sheikh University, South Valley University, Sohag University, the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Fayoum University, Aswan University, the American University in Cairo, Future University, Damietta University, the British University in Egypt, Damanhour University, and Port Said, Suez University, the Higher Institute of Engineering in 6th of October City, and Sadat City University.

The results of the classification this year confirmed the success of national efforts aimed at developing the higher education and scientific research system in Egypt, and enhancing the competitiveness of Egyptian universities at the regional and international levels, especially in the field of modernization and development of academic programs.

The Leiden classification in the open version highlighted the performance of Egyptian universities in five main fields of science: medical and health sciences, with 26 Egyptian universities, And life and earth sciences at 20 Egyptian universities, mathematics and computer science at 25 Egyptian universities, physical and engineering sciences at 28 Egyptian universities, and social and human sciences at 11 Egyptian universities. The classification displays the number of research publications for each university, reflecting the volume of scientific production in various disciplines.

The Dutch Leiden classification is considered one of the most prominent international research classifications, and relies on a comprehensive analysis of the scientific production of universities around the world based on a set of precise bibliometric indicators that highlight the real research performance of the institutions. Academy. These indicators include the extent of the scientific impact of research in terms of the number of publications and citation rates, the level of international research cooperation between universities and various institutions, the percentage of research published in the “Open Access” system, in addition to the diversity of researchers between males and females, which reflects the quality of scientific production and the balance of the research and development environment within universities.

For his part, Dr. Adel Abdel Ghaffar, the media advisor and official spokesman for the Ministry, explained that this continued progress of Egyptian universities in international classifications is a reflection of the efforts of Egyptian universities in Improving institutional performance at the regional and international levels, pointing to the increasing interest of Egyptian universities in scientific research, their efforts to enhance international cooperation in the fields of scientific publishing, and ensuring the quality of research published in prestigious scientific journals, which contributes to enhancing the position of Egyptian universities globally.

The official spokesman stressed that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research continues its efforts to support Egyptian universities to become among the leading universities in the world, which contributes to supporting their institutional and pioneering role in achieving sustainable development, building a knowledge society in Egypt, and implementing the vision of The state aims to make Egypt a distinguished educational destination globally.

A notable progress for Egyptian universities in the Dutch Leiden Classification for the year 2025