GIST (President: Young Joon Kim) was awarded the highest grade of “Excellent” in the Korean government’s evaluation of national research institutions conducted in the first half of 2014. The evaluation was for R&D achievements made by national research institutions for the period of 2011 – 2013. GIST has won the highest possible mark two times in a row, after getting an Excellent grade in the same evaluation conducted in 2011 for R&D achievements made in 2008 – 2010.

Among the 6 research institutions under the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning (MSIP), GIST was one of the only two that received Excellent grades in the R&D achievement evaluation. Among the 4 specialized universities for science and technology under MSIP, only GIST got the top grade. KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) and DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology) were awarded Fair grades.

The MSIP announced the evaluation results on July 23, 2014 after finalizing them in an operational committee meeting of the National Science and Technology Council. In the first half of this year, the ministry conducted management achievement evaluations on 26 research institutions and R&D achievement evaluations on 9 research institutions. The latter are made every three years, and the results are reflected in adjusting government contributions, in setting performance incentives, and in adjusting 2015 budgets.

GIST has been given consistently high recognition in international university evaluations as well. It was ranked No. 6 in the world and No. 1 in Asia in citations per faculty, by UK-based QS in its world university rankings 2013. In The Chosunilbo-QS Asian university rankings 2014, GIST was ranked No. 1 in Korea and No. 2 in Asia in papers per faculty.

GIST’s outstanding research competence is attributable to its policy of recruiting outstanding faculty, providing them with excellent research environments, and evaluating them on a strict yet flexible merit-based scale. New faculty are given start-up research funds and productive faculty remain even after retirement as research fellows. Strong incentives are given to authors of papers appearing on leading journals, and students are encouraged to actively participate in research as partners.

“As research quality was given more weight in this year’s achievement evaluation, the fact that GIST was awarded the highest mark in the nation carries an immense significance,” said President Young Joon Kim. “We will strive to go beyond our boundary and become a world-leading research institution by strengthening our research institutes and raising our global competences,” he added.