Marrakech – The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) released its 2026 Global 2000 list on June 1, ranking the top 2,000 institutions out of 21,291 evaluated worldwide. Six Moroccan universities made the cut. The University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P), founded in 2017, enters the list for the first time.
Mohammed V University of Rabat (UM5) leads nationally at 1,011th globally. It places in the top 4.8% with a score of 70.5 and a research rank of 966, the strongest among Moroccan institutions. It is also the only Moroccan university to post an employability rank, at a distant 1,655th.
Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech (UCA) follows at 1,101st with a score of 70.0 and a research rank of 1,056. Hassan II University of Casablanca (UH2C) rounds out the national top three at 1,155th, scoring 69.7 with a research rank of 1,110.
Further down, Mohammed First University of Oujda (UMP) places 1,393rd with a score of 68.6. UM6P enters at 1,763rd with a score of 67.0 and a research rank of 1,691. Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University of Fez (USMBA) closes the Moroccan contingent at 1,892nd, scoring 66.6.
UM6P’s inclusion stands out given its age. The university is less than a decade old. Its research output, driven by international partnerships and significant funding from the OCP Group, pushed it past the top 2,000 threshold. Its first graduating classes are still recent, which limits its standing in career-outcome indicators.
That limitation extends to all six Moroccan institutions. None register a score in the education or faculty quality categories. Only UM5 records an employability rank. The remaining five show no employability data at all. The CWUR methodology assigns 25% weight to education, 25% to employability, 10% to faculty, and 40% to research.
Morocco’s presence in the ranking rests almost entirely on research output. The education indicator measures alumni academic distinctions. Employability tracks graduates in leadership positions at the world’s largest companies. Faculty quality counts researchers with major awards or academy memberships. Moroccan universities do not reach the required thresholds in any of the three.
The gap with continental peers is wide. The University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa ranks 200th globally and first in Africa, with an employability rank of 97 and a faculty rank of 87. The University of Cape Town follows at 276th, with an education rank of 183 and an employability rank of 201. Both indicate that African universities can compete across all four CWUR indicators.
At the global level, Harvard University holds the top position again, followed by MIT and Stanford. The United States places 313 universities in the top 2,000. China leads all countries with 360 entries. Japan contributes 102, the United Kingdom 89, and France 71.
The ranking uses only objective, outcome-based data. No surveys or self-reported university submissions factor in. This year, 81 million data points were analyzed.
For Morocco, six entries in the Global 2000 confirm a growing research base. Closing the gap in education and employability metrics will determine whether any of its institutions can break into the top 1,000.
