News & Publication   

• 

  Ajou’s QS World University Rankings Rise for Three Consecutive Years

  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 13th 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

• 

  Ajou University in Top 200s in THE Impact Rankings 2021

  ​Ajou University was ranked in the 200s in the World University Rankings 2021 by Times Higher Education (THE). It is sixth among domestic universities that took part in the assessment.THE announced Impact Rankings 2021 for 1115 universities in 94 countries worldwide. Marking its third year this year, the assessment focuses on how well universities are fulfilling their social responsibilities.More specifically, it assesses efforts universities are making to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2015, the UN identified 17 SDGs as a blueprint for humanity in five areas—people, earth, prosperity, peace and partnership—to achieve the ideas of sustainable development. Ajou University ranked in the 201 – 300 range in THE Impact Rankings 2021. This is a significant improvement over last year’s ranking, which put it in the 401-600 range. It is worth noting that it ranked 95th for the industry and innovative infrastructure sector (SDG9), managing to enter the global Top 100. The School’s close engagement with industry in the field of education and research has contributed to creation of a broad ecosystem for cooperation between industry and academia, which was the reason behind the recognition.The School also ranked in the 101-200 range in No Poverty (SDG1), Good Health and Well-being (SDG3), Quality Education (SDG4), Reducing Inequality (SDG10), and Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG11). Notably, it ranked 2nd among domestic universities in the Good Health and Well-being (SDG3) sector. Ajou University’s multi-faceted education and social contribution programs for local communities utilizing the expertise of its members and efforts such as its Blue Ladder Program, a global training program for university students lacking opportunities to gain international experience due to social and economic difficulties, have led to its high performance in this field.In 2019, Ajou University established “Ajou Vision 4.0”, its mid- and long-term plan which enshrines the vision “Change the World with Connecting Minds.” As part of its action plan, the Ajou Sustainable Development Center was founded in 2020, to shape projects towards sustainable development and conduct research and campaigns to spread this culture within the campus.In THE Impact Rankings 2021, many universities in the UK and Australia that have been committed to achieving human well-being and protection of the global environment were among the highest-ranking schools. The University of Manchester (UK) ranked first place, followed by the University of Sydney, RMIT University, and La Trobe University (Australia). Among domestic universities, Yonsei University (30th) and Kyungpook National University (54th) managed to rank among the Top 100.

• 

  Ajou Ranked Ninth among Korean Universities with Technology Transfer Revenue of KRW 2.6 Billion in 2019

   Having earned KRW 2.6 billion in revenue from technology transfers last year, Ajou University came in ninth among all universities compared nationwide.The rankings were announced as part of the Ministry of Education (MOE)’s University Information Disclosure in June 2020, which detailed how much Korean universities earned from technology transfers and related contracts in 2019. A total of 416 schools, including 224 universities, 147 vocational colleges, and 45 graduate universities, share information on 62 subjects in 14 categories (including school status, student body, faculty, and finance) through this disclosure.The annual revenue Ajou generates from technology transfers has been rising steadily, from KRW 1.18 billion in 2016 to KRW 1.96 billion in 2017, KRW 2.14 billion in 2018, and KRW 2.63 billion in 2019. The revenue consists of the money that businesses pay to the university in exchange for intellectual property rights to the research and development results of the university’s research teams.Ajou provides a great interdisciplinary research environment, as almost all of its colleges—Engineering, Natural Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Nursing—are located on the same campus, facilitating collaboration among researchers. Moreover, the university participates in a variety of policy grant programs that support the marketization of new technologies throughout the technology life cycle, from patent search to ownership transfer. Ajou has also continued to participate in the Bridge+ Program (MOE and National Research Foundation of Korea), Patent Gap Fund Program (Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korea Intellectual Property Strategy Agency), and Technology Management Consulting (TMC) Program [KHTC1](Ministry of Science and ICT and COMPA).In March this year, Ajou expanded the Technology Transfer Center [KHTC2]to create the Technology Marketization Division[KHTC3], staffing it with patent attorneys, technology transfer agents, and certified valuation analysts, to provide a comprehensive range of support for successful marketization.Technology Transfer Revenue Rankings, 2019RankUniversityRevenue (million KRW)1KAIST10,1832Seoul National University8,8353Korea University5,4194Sungkyunkwan University4,4725Kyung Hee University4,2716Yonsei University4,0487Hanyang University3,0398Pusan National University2,7219Ajou University2,63010POSTECH2,48011Kyungpook National University2,472Average nationwide: KRW 760 million

• 

  InterOrgan Translational Research through Osteoarthritis / Siyoung Yang (Assistant Professor)

• 

  What is the Role of Necroptosis in Inflammation and Tumorigenesis? / You-Sun Kim (Professor)