2023 World University Rankings Top 10 — Where Does Korea Place?
2023 World University Rankings
Most students who graduate from high school and go on to university go through a confusing period at some point. That’s because, after receiving only standardized compulsory education, they suddenly come face to face with the vast scope of university education. If the major you chose because it’s famous, popular, or leads to good job prospects turns out to be far removed from the education you actually wanted, the confusion can only grow. For this reason, some developed countries provide various education systems through high school to set students up for a successful path to university. While reading a related article, I suddenly got curious about the world university rankings.
※ The data below references the QS World University Rankings.
2023 World University Rankings
No. 10, University of California, Berkeley
(UCB: University of California, Berkeley)
No. 10 in the world university rankings is the University of California, Berkeley. As the name suggests, it belongs to the University of California system, and it’s a public research university where work in mathematical sciences, space science, radiation experiments, and more is carried out. Founded in 1868, it boasts about 150 years of history and tradition to this day. Among Berkeley’s alumni, faculty, and researchers are 99 Nobel laureates, 23 Turing Award winners (the “Nobel Prize” of computer science), and 14 Pulitzer Prize winners.
UC Berkeley started with just about 40 students, then grew dramatically in the early 1940s to become the most famous university after Harvard. Today, around 40,000 students are educated at the school.
No. 9, University College London
(UCL: University College London)
University College London, which took No. 9 in the world university rankings, is the most preferred university among British high schoolers — because it’s the largest and most prestigious of the UK’s 30 major universities. The university has produced 30 Nobel laureates among its faculty and students, and founded in 1826, it boasts about 220 years of tradition, so it has many graduates who’ve brought it glory. Notably, film director Christopher Nolan — who gave us masterpieces like Interstellar, Inception, and the Batman series — graduated from this school.
No. 8, National University of Singapore
(NUS: National University of Singapore)
It’s simply astonishing that an Asian university is in the 2023 world university rankings…… Singapore is even famous for being smaller in land area than Korea, with high prices and expensive housing. But its education-related welfare is quite good. The National University of Singapore offers a wide range of education — science, business, computing, medicine, engineering, law, and more. What’s special is how well it blends Asian and global education. In fact, over 38,000 students from 100 countries are said to study at the National University of Singapore.
No. 7, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
(ETH Zurich)
ETH Zurich was founded in Switzerland in 1855, and now, 150-plus years later, it has produced 22 Nobel laureates, 2 Fields Medal winners, 3 Pritzker Prize winners, and 1 Turing Award winner. It also ranked No. 7 in the world university rankings and is counted as one of the world’s best universities in the fields of science and technology.
What’s interesting is that you can enjoy all sorts of campus activities while getting your education. ETH Zurich students take part in various sports to boost their concentration, and a sports competition can be counted as one of the biggest annual events at the university. They also enjoy orchestra, bands, and live music — and every November, dancers and musicians hold all kinds of events.
No. 6, Imperial College London
(Imperial College London)
Imperial College London, No. 6 in the world university rankings, is a British institution focused solely on science, engineering, medicine, and business. Rather than offering a broad range of education, it specializes in specific fields — and in science alone it has produced 14 Nobel laureates. It’s a university mentioned in the world rankings every year, but the reason it isn’t well known in Korea is said to be that it offers almost no accommodations for international students from China, Japan, and Korea.
No. 5, Stanford University
(Stanford University)
Stanford University, counted alongside Harvard as one of the world’s finest private universities, ranked No. 5 in the world university rankings. Founded in 1891 and boasting about 130 years of tradition, the university is said to admit over 7,000 undergraduates and over 9,000 graduate students each year. Including undergraduates, it has produced 20 Nobel laureates and has been selected as one of the world’s top three universities. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, are said to be alumni of this school.
No. 4, Harvard University
(Harvard University)
Harvard University, which competes with Stanford in the world university rankings every year, this time placed one notch above Stanford at No. 4. Founded in 1636 and known as the oldest institution of higher education in the U.S., Harvard has 21,000 students enrolled. Among Harvard graduates are 8 U.S. presidents, 62 living billionaires, 359 Rhodes Scholars, and 242 Marshall Scholars. On top of that, including all undergraduates, it has won 108 Olympic medals. Tuition on the surface is very expensive, but thanks to the university’s enormous endowment, over 60% of students are said to receive tuition assistance. It’s a top university for good reason!
No. 3, University of Oxford
(Oxford University)
The University of Oxford, which proudly claims to be the oldest in the English-speaking world, ranked No. 3 in the world university rankings. Opened in 1096 (there’s no exact record — it’s only an estimate), it boasts a history of nearly a thousand years. As a result, along with Harvard, its global renown is extremely high. It has produced over 120 Olympic medalists, 26 Nobel laureates, and 26 British prime ministers. And bearing the title of the UK’s top university, it focuses on specific fields rather than offering a broad range of education. Oxford has four disciplines — humanities, mathematics, physics, and life sciences — and among them, its science and medicine fields are said to be the world’s best.
No. 2, University of Cambridge
(Cambridge University)
The University of Cambridge, counted as one of the oldest universities in the world, ranked No. 2 in the world university rankings. Founded in 1209, it boasts some 800 years of tradition to this day. Just as Harvard and Stanford form a rivalry in the U.S., in the UK, Cambridge and Oxford form a rivalry with each other. In fact, they’re said to compete in all kinds of fields, much like the Yonsei–Korea University games in Korea.
No. 1, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
The MIT we all commonly know is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an institution that has never once dropped out of the world university rankings. It has around 1,000 faculty and 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and it leads research in artificial intelligence, climate adaptation, cancer, and poverty alleviation. As a result, it has many world-renowned figures. MIT has produced 83 Nobel laureates, and its alumni include former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers. The campus also has 12 museums and galleries, welcoming 125,000 visitors a year.
At this point, an irresistible curiosity arises. Just what rank does Korea’s Seoul National University hold in the world university rankings? Searching a bit more, I found that Seoul National University ranked 41st and KAIST ranked 56th. Also, China’s Peking University — a fiercely competitive education powerhouse near Korea — was 17th, and Japan’s University of Tokyo was 28th. I knew Peking University and the University of Tokyo were quite famous, but it’s somehow disheartening that Korea’s ranking is so far down. 🙁