SNU tops The JoongAng University Rankings for 10th straight year, Hanyang climbs to third
Published: 26 Nov. 2025, 14:53
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- LEE TAE-HEE
- [email protected]
![Seoul National University's graduation ceremony is held at its campus in Gwanak District, southern Seoul, on Aug. 28. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/26/ce918a6c-9f53-478e-9375-c04333c0bd0e.jpg)
Seoul National University's graduation ceremony is held at its campus in Gwanak District, southern Seoul, on Aug. 28. [YONHAP]
Seoul National University (SNU) maintained its lead in The JoongAng University Rankings 2025, marking its 10th consecutive year at the top since science and engineering universities were evaluated separately.
Yonsei University took second place, the same as last year. Hanyang University placed third, up from fifth the previous year.
Korea University came fourth, the same as last year. Sungkyunkwan University placed fifth, down from third last year.
There was only a nine-point difference between the first and fifth universities, compared to a 27-point gap two years ago. The gap has been narrowing as universities have improved their research and educational performance.
The JoongAng University Rankings 2025, released on the JoongAng Ilbo's 60th anniversary, evaluated 53 universities out of 190 four-year institutions in Korea. Unlike the subject rankings published Tuesday, the comprehensive rankings evaluate universities' competitiveness in each academic discipline by measuring research, education, and reputation across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering.
For the comprehensive rankings, universities are ranked on a scale of 290 points across four criteria: faculty research (95 points), educational environment (75 points), student output (80 points) and social reputation (40 points).
Hanyang University's rise to third place
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The university's student entrepreneurship outcomes were also notable. Over the past three years, the university recorded 40.5 billion won in startup support funding, coming second in the category. It also had 198 student-founded startups, ranking third. The university’s emphasis on practical education — focusing on technology transfer and entrepreneurship training while providing a foundation in research and education — has contributed to its overall performance.
"We have built interdisciplinary research environments to strengthen competitiveness in emerging technologies, also working hard to connect research results with actual technology transfer and our students in finding their businesses," said Kim Yeon-san, head of Hanyang University's Office of Planning.
SNU, coming first in the comprehensive rankings, led in the alumni impact on society metric and had the lowest dropout rate at 2.2 percent. Both metrics are part of the student output indicator.
Yonsei University performed well in metrics related to investments in its students, coming second in the education spending per student metric with 38.4 million won. Korea University maintained its position with high scores in the reputation of corporate hiring managers and in the high school students metric, both of which are part of the social reputation indicator.
Sungkyunkwan University showed strong performance, ranking second in employment rate at 73.9 percent, but its overall ranking fell from third to fifth as other universities improved.
Chung-Ang University returns to eighth
Several changes happened within universities in the top 10.
Konkuk University, Dongguk University and Chung-Ang University all climbed one or two places and tied for eighth.
This is the first time in four years that Chung-Ang University placed eighth, thanks to ranking fifth in reputation among corporate hiring managers and parents, and sixth among high school students. It had an employment rate of 69 percent, coming tenth in that metric, which is part of the student output indicator. It also had an employment retention rate of 87 percent, ranking seventh in the metric.
"We strengthened AI-based interdisciplinary education and research systems, leading to notable results and higher reputation from those outside the university," said Jang Hang-bae, head of the Office of Planning at Chung-Ang University.
Women’s universities
Ewha Womans University placed sixth, up from seventh last year, having a dropout rate of 2.6 percent, placing third in that metric. It also had an employment retention rate of 84.5 percent, sixth in the category.
Sookmyung Women’s University placed 20th, up from 23rd last year. It placed within the top 20 for the first time since 2019, supported by strong performance in science and engineering. It ranked fourth in the technology transfer revenue per faculty metric, with 24.5 million won.
"Our technology transfer performance shows that the school’s research capacity is translating into societal value," said Kim Chul-yun, the university's head of the Office of Planning. "Making major investments in the College of Engineering, which opened in 2016 to celebrate the school’s 110th anniversary, is beginning to bear fruit."
Beyond the top 10
Inha University placed 12th, up from 14th last year. Hanyang University’s Erica Campus ranked 13th, up from 16th last year. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies ranked 17th, up from 18th last year.
Inha University showed strong student outcomes, including a 70.4 percent employment rate, placing 8th in the metric. It also had a 2.6 percent dropout rate, coming second in the metric.
Hanyang University's Erica Campus performed well in globalization, ranking second in the ratio of international students pursuing undergraduate programs metric, part of the educational environment indicator, at 19.2 percent. It placed 8th in the academic exchanges with foreign universities metric, also under the educational environment indicator.
Among public and national universities, the University of Seoul ranked 16th, although down from 14th last year. Seoul National University of Science and Technology (Seoul Tech) ranked 18th, up from 20th last year.
The University of Seoul's educational expenditure per student was 6.4 times the tuition, the highest among the evaluated universities. Seoul Tech had strong entrepreneurship performance, including 17.8 billion won in startup support funding over three years and 1.23 billion won in revenue from student startups.
Among those outside Seoul, Kyungpook National University and Pusan National University tied at 21st, although Kyungpook fell from last year's 20th and Pusan rose from 22nd.
Evaluation criteria
Now in its 33rd year, The JoongAng University Rankings has refined its indicators based on its expertise as Korea's comprehensive university evaluation framework.
This year, the rankings expanded the scope of the alumni impact on society metric, part of the student output indicator, using the JoongAng Ilbo's biographical database.
Unlike The JoongAng University Rankings by Subject released on Tuesday, the comprehensive ranking examines university reputation through a survey of 2,400 corporate hiring managers, high school teachers who handle admissions, parents and high school students. This year’s survey added questions on universities' social contributions and the potential for future contributions, aiming to evaluate universities’ societal responsibilities and long-term impact.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LEE HOO-YEON, HEO JEONG-WON AND OH SAM-GWON [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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