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Korean universities out of QS Asia Rankings' top 10, Yonsei highest at 11th place

Published: 04 Nov. 2025, 19:00

LEE TAE-HEE
[email protected]

Yonsei University graduates throw their graduation caps in the air on Feb. 24, when the university's commencement ceremony was held. The university ranked 11th in the 2026 QS Asia Rankings. [YONHAP]

Yonsei University was Korea’s highest-ranked institution in the 2026 QS Asia Rankings, ranking 11th in a year where no Korean university was able to break into the top 10 despite positive movement across the board.

The 2026 QS Asia Rankings, released by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) on Tuesday, placed Yonsei University in 11th, two places lower than last year's ranking of ninth.

QS releases regional rankings after the QS World University Rankings, adding new indicators and adjusting weightings to reflect regional specialties. This year's Asia rankings features 1,527 institutions.

In the Asia rankings, citations per paper and papers per faculty replace the citations per faculty indicator used in the broader World University Rankings. Indicators used only for the Asia rankings include the number of staff with Ph.Ds, the proportion of inbound exchange students and proportion of outbound exchange students. Employer reputation and international research network indicators carry more weight, while the international faculty and international student ratios are weighted lower.

Yonsei University scored a full 100 points on Asia-only indicators, such as staff with Ph.Ds and the proportion of inbound exchange students. It also received full points for employer reputation.

Korea University closely followed at 12th in the Asia rankings, up from the previous year's 13th place. Sungkyunkwan University maintained its rank at 16th.

Seoul National University ranked 17th, up from its previous rank of 18th. Pohang University of Science and Technology followed at 18th, rising from 22nd. Hanyang University ranked 20th, down from the previous year's 19th.

Korea has six universities in the Asia top 20, which is the same as last year.

“South Korea continues to exemplify excellence and ambition in higher education,” said Ben Sowter, senior vice president of QS. “Last year, it stood alone as the only location in Asia with six universities among the region’s top 20. This year, mainland China joins that distinction — evidence of a region in transformation, investing strategically in research, innovation and international collaboration."

“It’s particularly meaningful that we’re hosting this year’s QS Higher Education Summit: Asia Pacific in Seoul — a city that symbolizes ambition, innovation and cultural confidence, and was named the world’s No. 1 Best Student City in the QS Best Student Cities 2026 rankings. Seoul embodies how tradition and technology can thrive side by side, making it a natural meeting point for global educators."

Kyung Hee University ranked 39th in the Asia rankings, slightly up from last year's 40th. Chung-Ang University followed at 65th, up from previous year's 73rd. Ewha Womans University placed 69th, up from last year's 70th.

Pusan National University came 76th, up from last year's 81st place. Sogang University and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Unist) are tied at 83rd, with Sogang rising from last year's 92nd and Unist up from last year's 88th.

Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology placed 90th, up from last year's 95th spot. Kyungpook National University entered the top 100 by placing 94th, up from last year's 101st. Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology is the last Korean university to rank within the top 100, placing 99th and up from last year's 105th.

Korean universities performed above the regional average in nine out of the total 11 indicators, such as academic reputation, employer reputation and faculty to student ratio.

Staff with Ph.Ds is one of the areas Korea shows its strength in, ranking third regionally with 83.2 points. Iran leads the indicator with 85.5, followed by Singapore with 85.1. Korea is also ranked fourth regionally for the inbound exchange students indicator and fifth for the outbound exchange indicator.

However, Korean universities scored lower than average on three indicators: papers per faculty, international research network and international faculty.

Looking at the overall 2026 QS Asia Rankings, The University of Hong Kong came first, followed by Peking University. Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore were tied at third place.

Fudan University came fifth, followed by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The City University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong tied at seventh, followed by Tsinghua University at ninth and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 10th.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]