Four Korean universities feature in the top 100 list of the 2016 World University Rankings released by Quacquarelli Symonds on Tuesday. It is the first time Korea University, 98th, has made the top 100 since 2004. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Hong Dam-young

Four Korean universities have been named in the world's top 100.

Seoul National University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Korea University were ranked 35th, 46th, 83rd and 98th, respectively.

In the rankings that included 916 universities from 81 countries, seven Korean universities made it to the top 200 and 16 were in the top 500, according to the 2016 World University Rankings released by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) on Tuesday.

It is the first time Korea University has made the top 100 since 2004, when the first edition of the QS World University Rankings was released.

QS said Korean universities scored high marks for "academic reputation" and "performance of alumni."

Meanwhile, the U.S. and Britain dominated the top 20, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) keeping its reputation intact as the top university for the fifth year. U.S. institutions Stanford and Harvard were second and third.

"This year's rankings imply that levels of investment are determining who progresses and who regresses," said Ben Sowter, head of research at QS.

"Institutions in countries that provide high levels of targeted funding, whether from endowments or from the public purse, are rising. On the other hand, some Western European nations making or proposing cuts to public research spending are losing ground to their American and Asian counterparts."

China continued to progress, with Tsinghua University rising to its highest position at 24th while the National University of Singapore, 12th, remained the leading Asian institution.