Comparing QS and THE Korean university rankings for engineering

Students at Pohang University of Science and Engineering’s Department of Convergence IT Engineering conduct analysis on the university’s Meta Maker Space. [POHANG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY]

 

This yr’s topic rankings from greater training analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) launched final Wednesday following the discharge of these from greater training British journal Times Higher Education (THE) in January. Comparing the 2 rankings, stark variations may be noticed within the engineering subject.

 

In phrases of engineering choices, Seoul National University was the highest-ranked Korean university for QS’s engineering and know-how topic rating at twenty fourth. KAIST was the best Korean university in THE’s engineering rating at thirty second, adopted by Seoul National University at thirty eighth. While KAIST is a robust engineering college, the university was not named by QS for the 2026 cycle.

 


Korea University and Pohang University of Science and Technology (Postech) are tied because the second-highest Korean university in QS’s engineering and know-how rating, putting 67th. 

 

But in THE engineering rankings, Postech falls on the fifth-highest Korean university at 69th and Korea University the sixth-highest at 87th.

 

Hanyang University was the fourth-highest Korean university in QS’s rating at 102nd, but in addition sat on the seventh-highest in THE’s rating, showing within the 126th to one hundred and fiftieth vary.  

 

To assist college students decipher the 2 rankings, the Korea JoongAng Daily breaks down notable contrasting performances and what could have led to such variations.

 


  

 


Postech and Korea University  

Pohang University of Science and Technology’s campus in Pohang, North Gyeongsang [POHANG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY]

 

Postech and Korea University each do effectively on QS’s engineering and know-how rating, tied as Korea’s second-highest university.

 

Even when assuming KAIST — historically the best and putting twenty fourth in QS’s engineering and know-how rankings for 2025 — could have pushed the 2 universities down if it was featured on this yr’s QS rankings, they’re nonetheless positioned greater than their THE engineering rankings placements. Postech was the fifth-highest Korean university for THE’s engineering rating, and Korea University the sixth-highest.  

 

One motive for Korea University’s greater efficiency within the QS rankings may be attributed to its worldwide analysis community.  

 

International analysis community constitutes 10 p.c of the rating in QS’s engineering and know-how rankings, a metric wherein Korea University acquired 62.2 factors. The determine is greater than Seoul National University’s 61.1 factors and Postech’s 55.3 factors.  

 

THE’s engineering rating makes use of the same indicator — worldwide co-authorship — though the metric is simply given a 2.5 p.c weight.

 

Since 2023, Korea University has been encouraging worldwide analysis collaborations by way of Okay-CLUB. Over 80 worldwide researchers are a part of Okay-CLUB, permitting them to record Korea University as their affiliated establishment when publishing papers.  

 

This additionally provides the university a greater probability to climb QS’s engineering and know-how rating, as 10 p.c of rank rating is decided by the citations per paper and an extra 10 p.c for H-Index citations, which measures productiveness and influence of printed papers.

 

THE additionally has analysis indicators resembling these associated to analysis popularity, analysis earnings or analysis power. however quotation influence is given a 13.7 p.c weight and analysis productiveness a 4 p.c weight.  

 

While Okay-CLUB goals to facilitate joint analysis, there have been considerations that many Okay-CLUB researchers aren’t bodily primarily based in Korea for analysis and instructing.

 

However, Korea University clarified through assertion on Monday that this system encourages flexibility by way of distant analysis and on-line seminars, additionally including that “it is becoming increasingly common in the global academic community for distinguished researchers to hold multiple affiliations with the approval of their primary institution.”

 

Postech is one other university that performs effectively within the QS standings, notable within the tutorial popularity metric, which is given the largest weight at 40 p.c of rank rating. The university will get 82.3 factors for tutorial popularity, greater than Korea University’s 77.3 factors.  

 

While THE additionally considers a university’s tutorial popularity, it prioritizes analysis, with analysis popularity being its most thought-about issue at 21 p.c of every rating, adopted by instructing popularity at 19.5 p.c.

  

 


Hanyang University and Sungkyunkwan University  

 

A clear room utilized by Hanyang University’s Department of Semiconductor Engineering [HANYANG UNIVERSITY]

 

Hanyang University performs effectively in QS’s engineering and know-how topic rating as Korea’s fourth-highest establishment, however falls at seventh-highest for THE’s engineering rating.  

 

While Sungkyunkwan University follows Hanyang University in QS rankings because the fifth-highest establishment, for THE, it locations bit greater because the fourth-highest.

 

One metric that Hanyang University stands out for is worldwide analysis community. The university was given 62.5 factors for the indicator, whereas Sungkyunkwan University was given 56.2.

 

While it’s pure for a lower-ranked university to get much less factors, a 6.3 level hole is bigger than the disparities seen in different indicators. For tutorial popularity, Hanyang leads Sungkyunkwan by 4 factors at 76.5, whereas the gaps are narrower in employer popularity at 1.6 factors, H-Index citations at 1.5 factors and citations per paper at 0.9 factors.

 

Aiming to facilitate worldwide partnerships, Hanyang University has a funding program that gives analysis grants to its school engaged on analysis tasks with abroad researchers. Yoo Ho-cheon, professor on the Department of Electronic Engineering, exemplifies the university’s push for such partnership and analysis, having been awarded an Outstanding Contribution Award for International Cooperation by the Ministry of Science and ICT in 2025 for energetic joint analysis with establishments in Europe, North America, Japan and China.

 

Sungkyunkwan University stood out in THE’s instructing indicator, which encompasses metrics resembling instructing popularity and student-to-staff ratio.  

 

For THE’s engineering rating, Sungkyunkwan acquired 59.2 factors for the instructing indicator, whereas Hanyang’s rating fell at 38.5. 

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]