By Islam Al-Sharaa

KUWAIT: Kuwait University is not fit for any ranking on international education quality indicators, a senior educator argued, adding that the institution's teaching society is cooperating with the administration to help improve its academic image.

Relying on international education quality indicators in measuring the education level at the university is not possible, Head of the teaching faculty members' society at Kuwait University Dr Shamlan Al-Qinae said. This is due to several core reasons, most notably laws and rules imposed on the university, which cannot be ignored in education quality evaluations, such as percentage of university admissions, number of foreign students and scientific research budgets, which the university has been largely suffering from during the past years, he added.

Qinae said the university continues its development of its all teaching and academic programs to improve its academic image. Qinae told journalists the society is seeking to extend cooperation with new KU Rector Dr Yousuf Al-Roumi to improve the university's status, adding the appointment of Roumi brought new hope to improve KU's position on the QS World University Rankings and work on improving its academic image.

Among the best

Qinae said the university is considered among the best in the Gulf and Arab regions, as it has professors who are graduates from the top 100 universities worldwide, and others who have graduated from the top 20, in addition to having the most modern scholastic and academic program, similar to international universities and academies, which leaves no doubt that the university is one of the best in the region.

He said the university or its teaching level cannot be compared with any private university, as the university's history is much longer than "this unjust comparison", stressing KU is one of the largest as far as the number of students is concerned in its colleges, programs and specialties, despite shortages in the teaching faculty.

Qinae said the university will work on improving its academic image through publication of information and news that show the efforts of teachers to raise the level of education and take the university to the ranks of international universities, adding KU's new ranking in June 2022 will not drop again; rather the university will work on boosting its ranking to its previous level or even higher.

Summer term

Qinae asked the university administration to work on resolving the summer term problem and cancel the new rules because they underestimate teachers' efforts and rights, adding the university council will take the correct decision during its next meeting to safeguard the rights of teachers. Qinae asked the media and those interested in the university's affairs to support university teachers and the public in their scientific and academic achievements in all fields and sectors.

Qinae said university teachers are optimistic about the appointment of the new rector Dr Roumi for the improvement of the university's academic image and ranking, increasing research budgets and filling in vacancies as soon as possible.