Korean Media: Among the top 30 universities in the world, China has 4, and South Korea has 0!
On July 13, the Korean media outlet "Chosun Ilbo" published an article stating that while the global competitiveness of South Korean key universities is declining, universities in Asian countries such as China and Singapore are rising. In the "2025 World University Rankings" recently released by the British global university evaluation institution QS, only three South Korean universities, Seoul National University (ranked 38th), Yonsei University (50th), and Korea University (61st), entered the top 100, a decrease of two from last year. On the other hand, 10 universities from China and four from Japan entered the top 100. Due to the fact that the proportion of South Korean universities that improved their rankings was lower than that of China and India in this assessment, there are concerns that South Korean universities may fall behind other Asian universities in competition.
In this survey, QS evaluated 5,000 universities worldwide across nine categories and ranked the top 1,500 based on comprehensive scores. A total of 43 South Korean universities were listed, ranking fourth in Asia, behind China (81 universities), India (54 universities), and Japan (47 universities).
Seoul National University, which ranks first in South Korea, dropped 7 places compared to last year. The rankings of South Korea's top universities generally declined compared to last year. Especially, the rankings of science and engineering universities fell across the board. Pohang University of Science and Technology, which was ranked 98th last year, dropped four places this year to 102nd. Among the 43 South Korean universities evaluated this time, 16 (37%) saw their rankings rise, while the remaining 26 remained the same or dropped.
On the other hand, other Asian universities showed a clear upward trend. Four Chinese universities have surpassed Seoul National University in rankings, including the University of Hong Kong (11th), Peking University (14th), Tsinghua University (17th), and Fudan University (30th). Among them, Fudan University, which has world-class research capabilities in medicine and biotechnology, was ranked 39th last year, below Seoul National University (31st), but rose 9 places this year, surpassing Seoul National University. Tsinghua University also rose 3 places, while Peking University maintained its rank. Among the 81 universities evaluated in China, 38 (47%) saw their rankings improve compared to last year, while 40% of Indian universities saw their rankings improve.
Notably, these Asian universities have made significant progress in "research performance." For example, in the top 50 for "number of citations per professor," 23 Chinese universities are included, almost three times as many as the United States (8). Eleven Chinese universities, including Central South University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, have higher rankings than Stanford University in the United States. There are 38 Asian universities in the top 50 of this category.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837514759898313/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.