12-Year-Old 'Boy' Becomes World’s 10th 'Young University'... UNIST Ranks Among 'Top 10' in 2021 THE Emerging Universities Evaluation

Jumped 7 Ranks Since 2020, 4 Years After Joining the Ring

475 Universities Worldwide Under 50 Years Old Compete This Year

UNIST campus view.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] ‘Top 10 Young Universities in the World’. At the age of 12, this title was claimed by a young university in South Korea just 4 years after stepping into the ring.

Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST, President Lee Yong-hoon) has been ranked among the top 10 young universities worldwide.

The UK university ranking organization THE (Times Higher Education) announced the 2021 Young University Rankings on the 23rd local time.

In the university rankings announced that day, UNIST was ranked 10th in the world.

THE Young University Rankings target young universities established within the last 50 years. The evaluation scores five areas: ‘Teaching Environment’, ‘Research Performance’, ‘Citation Impact’, ‘International Outlook’, and ‘Industry Income’. This year, 475 universities worldwide participated.

Nanyang Technological University in Singapore took first place. Following were Paris Sciences et Lettres University in France, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, KAIST, City University of Hong Kong, Maastricht University in the Netherlands, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy, POSTECH, University of Technology Sydney in Australia, and UNIST.

UNIST first entered the Young University Rankings in 2018, ranking 24th worldwide. This year, just 4 years after stepping into the ‘ring’, it rose to 10th place.

It showed continuous upward momentum with 20th place in 2019 and 17th in 2020, and this year it jumped 7 places, roaring like a lion.

In the detailed indicators of this evaluation, UNIST scored 90.8 points in the citation impact category, maintaining the top position among domestic universities.

Its internationalization score was also the highest among domestic universities. UNIST improved its scores in teaching environment, research performance, and industry income compared to last year, leading to excellent evaluations.

President Lee Yong-hoon said, “UNIST, a young university founded in 2009, has grown into one of the top ten young universities worldwide in just 12 years,” adding, “We will continue to grow as a research-oriented university that can serve as a model in all areas from basic research to advanced technology startups.”

UNIST has been continuously rising with excellent results in various global university rankings announced in 2021.

It started with ranking 5th domestically and 147th globally in the ‘2021 Nature Index Institutions Ranking’ announced by the scientific journal Nature on May 20.

Then, on the 2nd, it ranked 5th domestically and 21st in Asia in THE Asia University Rankings, and on the same day, it maintained the top domestic position for five consecutive years in the Leiden Ranking.

In the QS World University Rankings announced on the 8th, UNIST was evaluated at 8th domestically and 212th globally upon its first entry. Notably, it showed power by ranking 2nd domestically and 9th globally in citations per faculty member.