Alfaisal University is a private university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, located in the compound enclosing the vicinity of the al-Ma'dhar Palace. Established in 2002, the institute offers courses in various subjects up to post graduation and is named after King Faisal bin Abdulalziz.
It was founded in 2002 by the King Faisal Foundation. The first students were admitted in 2008. Alfaisal's total enrollment now exceeds 2500. The enrollment is 67% Saudi National with the remaining 33% being students from over 40 other nations. The total number of faculty is nearly 200 with international faculty from 31 countries. The Board of Trustees includes representatives from five firms, four international firms, and a representative from the Ministry of Education.
It is ranked 1805 internationally and 7 nationally on CWUR. It is ranked 5442 internationally and 23 nationally on Unirank.. They don't show up in the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
Alfaisal University is ranked between 301-350 worldwide by Times Higher Education (THE) in its World University Rankings 2022, 601âÂÂ800th in its Impact Rankings 2022, 36th worldwide in the "Young Universities" category, which looks at universities under 50 years old.
It is also ranked 9th by the Times Higher Education (THE) in its category The worldâÂÂs best small universities 2021 where Caltech is ranked 1st, and also ranked 20th by the Times Higher Education in its category Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020. On Webometrics, it is Ranked 2226 globally and 23rd nationally.
In the QS World University Rankings 2026, Alfaisal University is ranked between 801âÂÂ850. While it maintains a global presence, its specific perception-based scores have seen a decline: Academic Reputation: 7.9/100, Employer Reputation: 5.9/100, and Employment Outcomes: 5.7/100. Conversely, the university excels in internationalization, achieving a perfect 100/100 for its International Faculty Ratio and 96.7/100 for its International Student Ratio.
Its broader standing is often contextualized in the Asia Times article, "University rankings are mostly meaningless".