In this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, SKKU came out 148th, a big leap from its 201-225 standing last year. This leap makes SKKU the second highest comprehensive university among the Korean universities listed in the ranking. In the list only Seoul National University, KAIST, and POSTECH rank higher than SKKU domestically.

SKKU’s swift ascension from 308th place in 2011 -- even beating Yonsei University's highest ranking (183rd in 2012) for the first time this year -- is mainly accredited to concentrated investments made in the last two or three years in the research sector where it has strengthened industry-university collaboration with Samsung and recruited many quality professors in science and engineering.

THE’s World University Ranking is based on five categories: industry-university collaboration, education and educational environment, thesis citations, research volume and reputation, and internationalization, using 13 indicators that are calculated into points that decide the ranking. Education and research are evaluated through a reputation survey made with 70,000 people worldwide, assessing 50 million thesis citations.

“In this year's ranking, 24 Asian universities put their names in the top 200, which is a climb from last year’s 20,” announced an official from THE. “At the same, time American and Canadian universities rankings dropped a little.”

“Korean universities are gaining in world rankings through their investments in research,” said an official from the Ministry of Education. “However, there is still more room for improvement in the non-science and engineering sector.”