Ajou University has risen in the QS World University Rankings for three consecutive years. Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), based in the UK and the world’s largest international higher education network, announced the rankings for 1,300 of 6,415 universities around the world this year. 

In the QS World University Rankings, which were announced on May 9, Ajou University ranked in the 531-540 range. Ajou University ranked in the 651~700 range in 2018, the 601-650 range in 2019, and the 551-560 range in 2020. Its 2021 placement in the 531-540 range mark a jump of 20 ranks. It was ranked 13^th among domestic universities. 

It was a remarkable achievement for Ajou University, especially as 16 of the 20 participating domestic universities were ranked lower in 2021 than they were last year. 

A rise in the scores for academic reputation, graduates, and education is driving the constant increase in rankings. 

Ajou University has been making meaningful efforts to acquire talented faculty and improve research quality and impact. To better evaluate quality of research, the Thesis Excellence Award has been launched while research funding for new and junior faculty have increased. A maximum of KRW 100 million in research funding will be granted to the sciences and engineering and KRW 50 million to the humanities and social sciences.

Furthermore, research funds specifically for post doctorate researchers will be allocated and well-known scholars are to be invited through the hosting of international academic conferences. 

In addition, Ajou University has created a “Paran Semester,” which enables students to carry out challenging academic projects that they design themselves throughout the entire semester, including extracurricular activities, organized field trips, and start-up accelerator programs. In this way and others, Ajou has been working to help students develop problem-solving skills, which are a prerequisite for most jobs in the future.   

QS announces the world university rankings every year. Universities are evaluated by six key ranking indicators in the four categories of research, environment, globalization, and reputation. 

The highest weighting (40%) is allotted to each institution’s Academic Reputation score, which is derived from the opinions of over 130,000 experts in the higher education space. The Employer Reputation metric (10%) is based on over 75,000 responses from employers who participate in the QS Employer Survey. Included in the evaluations are Faculty/Student Ratio (20%), International Faculty Ratio/International Student Ratio (5% each), and Citations per Faculty across a five-year period (20%).  

In this year’s QS World University Rankings, MIT ranked first, followed by the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Stanford University. As for domestic universities, Seoul National University (36th), KAIST (41st), Korea University (74th), Yonsei University (79th), and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) (81st) were included in the top 100 universities in the world. 

Meanwhile, Ajou University has been receiving greater recognition from authoritative institutions of academic ranking of global universities. Ajou University also ranked 130th, jumping 49 ranks from last year, in the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2021, which were announced on May 2. This April, in the Impact Rankings 2021 by THE, Ajou University ranked in the 201-300 range, rising more than 100 ranks from 2020, for the industry and innovative infrastructure sector (SDG9).

<Percentile Evolution in QS World University Rankings of Ajou University: Ajou University is rising constantly upward even while the number of global universities participating in QS World University Rankings increases.>

<Results of THE Asia University Rankings 2021: The table above indicates changes in Ajou University’s global and domestic rankings. The table below indicates percentile evolution of Ajou University in THE Asia University Rankings.>

#See the results of the QS World University Rankings 2022