Korean universities shine in world university subject rankings

Rankings of many Korean universities rose in the 2024 QS World University Rankings by Subject, with Seoul National University and KAIST leading the charge across the organization's five subject rankings lists.

Seoul National University's main gate in Gwanak District, southern Seoul. [NEWS1]

Rankings of many Korean universities rose in the 2024 QS World University Rankings by Subject, with Seoul National University and KAIST leading the charge across the organization's five subject rankings lists.

The QS World University Rankings by Subject, released Wednesday, assesses universities across five academic fields, including arts and humanities, engineering and technology, life sciences and medicine, natural sciences and social sciences and management.

Rankings provider Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) evaluates universities based on academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper, impact of published papers and international research networks.

Among the Korean universities, Seoul National University was the highest ranked in arts and humanities, life sciences and medicine and social sciences and management, while KAIST led the engineering and technology and the natural sciences categories.

Seoul National University placed 40th in arts and humanities, up from its previous year's placement of 59th.

Yonsei University followed in 72nd place, much higher than the previous year's rank of 97th. Korea University ranked 76th, jumping up from 123rd place the previous year.

Seoul National University ranked 26th in the life sciences and medicine field, edging up from the previous year's 28th place. Yonsei University ranked 57th, up from 61st the previous year.

For social sciences and management, Seoul National University continued its rank from the previous year, at 34th. Yonsei University followed at 50th, up from 53rd the previous year, with Korea University ranking 52nd, up from 61st.

KAIST placed the highest among Korean universities in engineering and technology, at 20th, up from the previous year's placement of 24th.

Seoul National University came 27th, up from 36th place the previous year, while Pohang University of Science and Technology (Postech) ranked 58th, up from 72nd.

Korea University and Yonsei University tied at 70th place in the category. Yonsei University ranked 86th and Korea University had ranked 88th the previous year.

Hanyang University also entered the top 100, ranking 86th. The university ranked 106th the previous year.

For natural sciences, KAIST ranked 24th, with Seoul National University following at 26th.

The universities switched spots from last year's ranking, with Seoul National University placing 36th and KAIST at 61st.

Postech ranked 45th in this year's rankings, up from the previous year when it placed 110th.

Korea University ranked 72nd, up from 139th the previous year, while Yonsei University ranked 80th, up from 134th.

This year's rankings, released Wednesday, looked into 1,559 institutions. The subject rankings differ from the overall QS World University Rankings, which take into account a university's scores across all subjects.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]