Responding to Science magazine’s claims, they said the Jeddah university has put in a lot of effort to improve its level of education and deserved to obtain a high rank on its own merits.
According to Science magazine, KAU and King Saud University both spent money to help improve its world ranking.
However, academics at KAU think that there is a conspiracy against Saudi universities.
"In the last 10 years, King Abdulaziz University worked on developing its teaching to compete with advanced universities all over the world,” Dr. Farooq Al-Khateeb, a professor at the university, told Arab News.
“However, there are many academic organizations that look down on Saudi universities due to the strong competition between the Arab and Western universities."
"Any university has to pay money to subscribe to the academic organization. However, there is no university that pays money to obtain a high rank in the global classification. It is unacceptable," Al-Khateeb added.
Dr. Adnan Bin Hamza, undersecretary of KAU for higher studies, denied the accusations, local media reported.
"The university has contracted part time professors to develop its teaching. We work to attract international experience as many global universities do."