University Rankings

The main building of Yonsei University, which is the Y in SKY, an acronym for the top 3 universities in Korea.
The main building of Yonsei University, which is the Y in SKY, an acronym for the top 3 universities in Korea.

 

A new survey found that Korean universities’ reputation still lags far behind its Asian counterparts.

Times of Higher Education (THE) Magazine announced on March 4 (local time) that in the 2013 World Reputation Rankings of Universities, a survey of 16,639 scholars from 144 countries, conducted jointly with Thompson Reuters, Seoul National University was ranked 41st by garnering 8.3 points. The university broke into the top 50 for the first time this year after remaining between 51st and 60th places for two years in a row since 2011, a year when the survey first began.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), along with Seoul National University, was ranked among the top 100 by making into the ranking of between 61st and 70th for the last two years.

However, Korean universities are still far behind its Asian counterparts given that both Japan and China each have two universities represented in the top 50.

As for Japan, Tokyo University, at 9th place, made the top 10 for the third consecutive year, and as many as five universities including Kyoto University (23rd) and Osaka University (51st – 60th) were named among the top 100.

Five Chinese universities also were ranked among the top 100, with Tsinghua University at 35th (9.6 points), Beijing University at 45th (7.8 points), Hong Kong University at 36th, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) at between 61st and 70th.

Harvard University topped the list for three years in a row, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the U.K.’s Cambridge retained their former positions of 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.

The top 10 include seven U.S. universities, two U.K. ones, and the Japanese Tokyo University, which became the only Asian university among the top 10.

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