KU ranks top in six out of nine faculty departments, highest among Korea’s private universities, in the JoongAng Ilbo Faculty Assessment Ranking for 2017.

KU received top ranking in Architectural Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Philosophy, Economics, and Public Administration.

Korea University took first place among Korea’s private universities with six out of nine faculty departments ranking in the top tier of JoongAng Ilbo’s 2017 assessment.

KU departments received the highest ranking in Architectural Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Philosophy, Economics, and Public Administration. Other four departments, such as Environmental Engineering, Statistics, History, and Korean History, placed in the upper ranks in the assessment. Out of the ten faculty departments that were subject to the assessment, KU does not have a department of Hotel Management and Tourism. It means that the school received top marks in six of the nine applicable departments.

(※ Academic areas with more than two departments under the named field enlisted all applicable departments.)

Of the other universities that received assessments for both science and humanities colleges, Seoul National University had seven departments in the highest tier and three in the upper ranks. Yonsei University placed four departments in the highest tier with two in the upper ranks. Sungkyunkwan University had one in the highest and four in the upper ranks, and lastly, Hanyang University placed four in the highest and five in the upper ranks.

KU showed its broad and balanced strength in both the humanities and social sciences category and the natural science and engineering category in this year’s rankings, as KU has placed three departments in the highest ranks in each category, also showing balanced development in these categories in upper and mid-upper ranks.

KU showed strength in natural science and engineering colleges, placing Architectural Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Chemistry in the highest tier. The assessment was conducted on five departments: Architectural Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, and Statistics. Among the five applicable departments, all of them ranked high on the list demonstrating KU’s role as a leader in the fields of scientific and engineering studies. The Sejong Campus also put its name on the map with the departments of Environmental Engineering and Chemistry receiving high marks. The Department of Chemistry made a sweeping achievement with both the Seoul and Sejong Campus ranking high on the list.

Professor Jong-Sub Lee’s team from the School of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering made a lasting impression on the appraisers with their research on a sinkhole detection sensor technique around the Artic Circle in this year’s assessment. The existing technique involved heavy machinery, weighing more than two tons, used to measure the solidity and density of the ground, while the new technique requires only 20kg worth of equipment utilizing a small sensor. This technique generated great interest due to its wide application including the prevention of landslides and sinkholes, and general utilization in living space.

In terms of the assessment on the humanities and social sciences, Philosophy, Economics, and Public Administration received the highest ranking. History and Korean History also placed in the upper ranks in the assessment. The department of Public Administration received high marks in both the Sejong and Seoul Campus this year as Sejong’s department of Public Administration climbed to the mid-upper class. Among the five assessment areas in humanities and social sciences, four were applicable since KU does not have the department of Hotel Management and Tourism. Six departments ranked high in the list overall with outstanding scores, keeping KU’s tradition of dominating the humanities and social sciences departments.

KU also demonstrated its excellence in research taking first place in the number of citations per paper (5.38 citations per paper). Some of the notable departments with highly praised programs were Economics and Public Administration. The mentoring program in conjunction with the Bank of Korea was designed to support Economics students answer tough research questions and the practical working skills training and overseas studies experience were organized to prepare Public Administration students for their jobs and enhance global exposure and understanding.

JoongAng Ilbo used four years of public data published by the universities and data from the National Research Foundation of Korea as indicators to complete the assessment. The indicators for the research capacities of the faculty included the number of publications, citations, and research grant size, and the proportion of scholarship and graduate employment rate were also used as indicators to assess the educational outcome and environment of the students.

Jae Wook Kim, KU Vice President for Planning and Budget, said, “This is our continuous effort to strengthen education and research capacity coming into fruition. The result displayed that we have achieved balanced development regardless of the field.”

JoongAng Ilbo will release their comprehensive assessment on Korea’s four year universities in October.