< Small is beautiful. >

by Kim Kyoung-Woong,

Dean of the Office of International and Public Affairs

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Quacquarelli Symonds, a UK-based university evaluation institution, has recently unveiled the international rankings of universities around the world. Given the strong interest drawn to the comprehensive university evaluation, the assessment results of Quacquarelli Symonds offer useful information for GIST to keep in mind in order to upgrade its ranking going forward.

 

   The QS survey measures the excellence of universities based on both qualitative criteria (i.e. the awareness and reputation of the university and its graduates) and quantitative criteria (i.e. the number of paper quotations per professor and the ratio of foreign professors and students).

 

   GIST was not included in the comprehensive evaluation since it has yet to produce graduates. However, GIST ranked 7^th in the world and 1^st in Asia in the number of paper quotations per professor. It was such a proud accomplishment given the small size of GIST with only 120 or so professors. What is more, GIST is drawing renewed attention since this was not one-off achievement but GIST has kept one of top ten spots for years now.

 

   In the category of paper quotations per professor, most of the universities which ranked between 1^st and 8^th have a long history for hundreds of years and GIST was the youngest which is only 20 years old. Despite a short history and geographical disadvantage, located in Gwangju, GIST is making fruitful progress through intensive R&D activities by professors, staffs and students.

 

   Hopefully, the accomplishment made by a small college such as GIST will set another good example of “Small is beautiful.”