Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said the ranking of 19 Egyptian universities in the Times Higher Education list for the best 1200 universities for 2019 reflects the priorities placed by the government on the quality of higher education.

The new ranking, issued late last month, included 19 Egyptian universities, in comparison to nine in last year’s ranking, eight in the year before and only three in 2016.

"The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, founded in 2004, provides the definitive list of the world's best universities, evaluated across teaching, research, international outlook, and reputation, with data trusted by governments and universities, and are a vital resource for students in helping them choose where to study,"  the ranking's official page says. 

The Times 2019 rankings showed  a noticebale progress for some of Egypt's universities such as the American University in Cairo (AUC), Beni Suef, Kafr El Sheikh, Mansoura and Suez Canal universities, which were all ranked between the 601and 800 places on the list.

Alexandria, Cairo, Fayoum, Sohag and Tanta universities ranked from 801-1000, while the universities of Ain Shams, Al-Azhar, Assiut, Helwan, Menoufiya, Meniya, Al Wadi Al-Gedied (South Valley) and Zagazig ranked between 1001 and 1200.

Madbouly affirmed in a statement on Friday that the government has placed the quality of education services as a top priority for its agenda, citing great efforts being exerted in both the pre-university and higher education system. 

The prime minister noted that a number of new universities in new cities will open soon in order to provide the highest level of quality education.

"The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019 includes more than 1,250 universities, making it our biggest international league table to date" explains the Times ranking website.

The rankings "uses 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons for rankings trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments across the globe."