Arab Universities on Facebook, X, and YouTube 2025 | Universities' Digital Presence

Social media has become one of the most important channels universities use to communicate with students, researchers, alumni, and the academic community, and a university's digital presence is no longer confined to its official website.

The uniRank Universities on Social Media ranking makes it possible to gauge the scale of universities' public following on three major platforms:

• Facebook
• X (formerly Twitter)
• YouTube

In these rankings, uniRank relies on the number of followers or subscribers to the official institutional account, not on the quality of education or the quality of academic programs. It also selects the most general and comprehensive institutional account when a university has several accounts linked to faculties or departments.

First: What do uniRank's data say about universities' digital presence globally?

uniRank data show that Facebook remains the most widespread social platform among higher-education institutions in the uniRank database.

uniRank data indicate that 76.98% of the higher-education institutions listed in its database had adopted an institutional Facebook page as of June 2025, versus 68.05% for YouTube and 59.87% for X in the latest published update for each platform.

Second: Top 5 Arab Universities on Facebook

According to the 2025 data contained in the attached data file, and after verifying the official uniRank pages, the five highest Arab universities by Facebook follower count are as follows:

The global uniRank page confirms that the American University in Cairo ranked 19th globally, the Applied Science Private University 23rd, Cairo University 28th, Al-Turath University 31st, and Zewail City University of Science and Technology 37th globally on Facebook in the 2025 ranking.

The Egyptian universities page confirms that AUC, Cairo, and Zewail hold the top three spots in Egypt on Facebook, while the Jordanian universities page confirms the Applied Science Private University leads, and the Iraqi universities page confirms Al-Turath University leads.

📊 Facebook Analysis in the Arab World

There is a very important result in these data:

Egypt dominates the Arab top five with 3 out of 5 universities.

This makes Egypt the most represented Arab market at the top of university Facebook according to 2025 data.

Third: Top 5 Arab Universities on YouTube

On YouTube, the picture changes noticeably.

Global uniRank data show that Al-Rafidain University College ranked 51st globally, Yemen's University of Science and Technology 52nd, Mansoura University 62nd, and the Islamic University of Najaf 77th globally in the 2025 YouTube ranking.

The Iraqi universities page also confirms that Al-Rafidain and the Islamic University of Najaf top YouTube in Iraq, while the University of Science and Technology tops Yemen's list and Mansoura University tops Egypt's.

Fourth: Top 5 Arab Universities on X

Here, a very clear Saudi dominance appears.

Official uniRank data confirm that five Saudi universities occupy the top five positions among Arab universities in the 2025 X ranking, and they also appear at 16th, 21st, 22nd, 27th, and 31st globally, respectively.

This leads to a clear result: Saudi Arabia controls the entire Arab Top 5 on X.

This is one of the most important results to highlight on the page.

Arab Comparison Across the Three Platforms

This shows that the Arab university digital presence is not uniform across platforms; the country leading Facebook is not necessarily the one leading YouTube or X.

Arab Universities Most Prominent Across Multiple Platforms

The available data show that some universities have managed to build a strong multi-platform presence.

• The American University in Cairo: Facebook: 1,139,492 | YouTube: 30,000 | X: outside the Arab Top 5. AUC ranks 19th globally on Facebook according to uniRank.
• University of Science and Technology – Yemen: YouTube: 154,000 subscribers | average views: 109,756 | X: not in the Arab Top 5 | Facebook: not in the Arab Top 5. An interesting case emerges here: a university very strong on YouTube without being at the top of the other two platforms.
• Mansoura University: YouTube: 131,000 | average views: 5,849 | Facebook: among Egypt's leading universities | X: not in the Arab Top 5.

An Important Metric for Arab Universities: Followers vs. Engagement

It is a mistake to evaluate a university's digital presence through follower count alone.

The Top Arab University Rankings platform can develop a more advanced analysis than the original uniRank ranking through four indicators:

1. 1. Reach: Audience size.
2. 2. Engagement: Level of audience engagement.
3. 3. Content Performance: Performance of published content.
4. 4. Platform Adoption: Number of platforms the university officially uses.

Accordingly, it will be possible in the future to create: Arab University Digital Presence Index – AUDPI — an independent index that could become one of the analytical products of the Top Arab University Rankings platform.

What do these results mean for Arab universities?

The data reveal three different strategies:

• Facebook = broad audience: Egyptian, Jordanian, and Iraqi universities appear strongly on Facebook, which points to the platform's importance in building a large public community around the university.
• YouTube = visual content: Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, and Palestine appear at the Arab top, with cases such as Yemen's University of Science and Technology enjoying a very high level of average views.
• X = rapid institutional communication: Saudi Arabia controls the top five positions in the Arab world, with high levels of monthly activity for some universities; Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University, for example, records 72 posts per month in uniRank data.

Analytical summary

uniRank 2025 data provide a clear picture of how the Arab university digital landscape differs:

• Facebook: 🇪🇬 Egypt is the most prominent force in the Top 5.
• YouTube: 🇮🇶 Iraq leads with two universities, with an exceptional showing by Yemen's University of Science and Technology in terms of average views.
• X: 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia imposes complete dominance over the Arab Top 5.

Most importantly, the number of followers should not be the sole indicator; the example of the University of Science and Technology in Yemen shows that a university may have a smaller audience than some universities globally, yet achieve a very high average view count per video.