UAE leads Arab world in IMD World Talent Ranking 2022

The UAE was ranked first in the Arab region in the IMD World Talent Ranking (WTR 2022), and 21st globally, advancing two places. The country was ranked among the top ten in nearly 30 per cent of the report’s indexes, including 15th globally as part of Europe, the Middle East and Africa group, topping countries such as France, Portugal, the UK, Spain and Japan.

The UAE is among the best countries in terms of readiness to meet the needs of the labour market for significant skills and expertise by creating a business-friendly environment that can attract and retain expertise and skilled manpower, making it one of the most attractive countries for expertise and skills around the world.

In addition to its overall advancement in the report, the UAE has secured a place among the top ten countries in nine indexes, with the readiness factor seeing significant improvement, being ranked 7th globally and 1st in the Middle East and North Africa.

The UAE ranked first in the world in the indexes of “Students mobility inbound” and “Collected personal income tax,” second globally in the “Competent senior managers” and third globally in the “Foreign highly-skilled personnel.”

The UAE was also ranked 11th globally in the “Quality of life” and made remarkable progress in many other indexes in the report, highlighting the outstanding global performance that has made it a leading country in terms of attracting and preserving international talents, to meet the requirements of the labour market.

Data from the 2022 IMD World Talent Ranking (WTR) shows that Switzerland remains the leader among 63 economies in attracting and retaining talent for the sixth consecutive year. It is followed by Sweden, Iceland, Norway, then Denmark. Since 2018, Iceland has leapt from 16th to third.

World Talent Report is published annually by the Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland since 2013. The report assess the extent to which countries develop, attract and retain talent to sustain the pool that enterprises employ to create sustainable value. This year’s report measures 64 countries, through 3 main factors; Investment and Development, Appeal, and Readiness. Within the 3 factors, there are a total of 31 criteria (17 indexes survey-based and 14 indexes based on hard data).

The IMD World Talent Ranking (WTR) assesses the status and the development of competencies necessary for enterprises and the economy to achieve long term value creation. It does so by using a set of indicators which measure the development, retention and attraction of a domestic and international highly-skilled workforce.

The WTR takes a three-pronged approach to measuring talent in economies.

Most Employable Graduates: The Times Higher Education (THE) has published its annual Graduate Employability Rankings and Abu Dhabi University (ADU) has been ranked best in the United Arab Emirates for this important yardstick for effective education.

THE surveys over 1,600 institutions in nearly 100 countries and has rated ADU top in the UAE, 2nd in the GCC and 3rd in the Arab region. These results place ADU well within the top 250 universities worldwide that THE has cited for the value of its graduates an elite group of institutions led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Oxford University. ADU has ranked 179th among these world-leading institutions.

Following on the University’s business and economic subjects being ranked best in the UAE, joint 2nd in the Arab region and among the top 175 globally in the Times Higher Subject Rankings, and an overall 301-350 position in the THE World University Rankings, the outstanding performance in the Global Employability Rankings consolidates Abu Dhabi University’s position not only among the elite institutions in the Arab region, but also one that is internationally respected.

Commenting on this outcome, ADU Chancellor Professor Waqar Ahmad noted: “Abu Dhabi University (ADU) excels in teaching, research and student experience. Times Higher World University Rankings place our teaching and research influence among the very best in the Arab region and our US accrediting body, the State of California’s Western Association of Schools and Colleges, has commended us for our ‘putting students first philosophy’. The global employability rankings published now confirm what UAE and regional employers already know that ADU graduates are among the best of any alumni across the world. We remain committed to developing talented young people capable of transforming organizations in and beyond the UAE.”