King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) is the first Arab university to be ranked amongst the top 100 in the world. A research university in Dhahran, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, KFUPM aims to prepare the next generation to create new sectors and address global challenges aligned with the UN SDGs.

Founded near the earliest local oil fields, initially as the College of Petroleum & Minerals (1963) in response to the booming energy industry of Saudi Arabia, the university centers around science, technology, engineering, and business subjects.

In 2025, the university was ranked 2nd globally for its number of U.S. utility patents, by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI),. Also, according to the NAI, KFUPM has consecutively held the record of the highest STEM patent-per-capita rate in the world since 2023.

In 2026, the university placed first in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, based on Times Higher Education rankings, and in 2027, it reached 63rd globally according to QS Ranking. KFUPM's engineering subjects also rank among the top 80 globally, according to the QS subject rankings.

History

KFUPM is a reputable university in Saudi Arabia, as well as the Middle East and Africa. It was initially established as the College of Petroleum and Minerals on September 23, 1963, by a Saudi royal decree, with the goal to provide high-level education in the academic fields of petroleum and minerals, two of the most valuable natural resources in Saudi Arabia at that time.

During its very first admissions round, 67 young men were registered. The original campus was designed by CRS Design Associates, architects and engineers of Houston, Texas. The college was elevated to university status in 1975 when it expanded its academic offerings in science, engineering, technology, and business. In 1984, the Program of Industrial and Systems Engineering was first introduced. The university was renamed after King Fahd in 1986. Since that time, enrollment has grown to over 10,000 students by the 2021 academic year and has graduated more than 39,000 students since its inception.

In 2019, the university put in place a transformation plan whose primary goal was to support the transformation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from a natural resource monetizing economy primarily focused on oil and gas resources, into a diversified knowledge economy.

Part of this transformation plan presents an important milestone in the history of the university with the inclusion of female students in the engineering and technical academic programs. In 2019, male and female students were equally accepted into new graduate programs for the first time in the history of the university, and in 2021 admissions started for female students at the undergraduate level, on a merit basis. It now has one of the highest enrollment rates for female engineering students in the world, placed between 40 and 50% yearly.