South Korea (Washington Insider Magazine) – In an unprecedented move, South Korea’s leading research universities have united to boycott the QS World University Rankings, alleging transparency issues and mathematical flaws in the newly updated ranking criteria. Over 50 universities, including Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University, formed the University Rankings Forum of Korea (URFK) to formally oppose the changes and demand corrective actions.
This year, QS introduced an International Research Network (IRN) indicator aimed at measuring cross-border research collaboration, which many Korean institutions argue unfairly penalizes universities in non-English-speaking countries. The IRN metric, weighted at 5%, rewards partnerships with a greater number of countries, disadvantaging institutions with concentrated research ties, like many South Korean universities that often collaborate heavily with U.S. institutions. Additionally, QS reduced the importance of the faculty-student ratio indicator, significantly impacting rankings across Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.
URFK argues that the abrupt, steep decline in scores fails to reflect actual academic performance. Only Sejong University saw an improvement, rising by 150 places, but it has joined the boycott, emphasizing that its score would have been higher under the previous methodology. URFK leaders assert that Korean universities continue to excel in research and teaching quality, and they demand QS make its processes more transparent.
In response, QS denies any methodological errors, explaining that the reduction in the faculty-student ratio indicator was based on feedback to better reflect academic quality. QS also held discussions with URFK, but both sides remain at odds over the IRN metric’s fairness.
If Korean universities proceed with a full boycott, QS will utilize alternative data sources for these institutions, a prospect that has prompted some universities to consider legal action. URFK maintains that if QS fails to address these concerns, they may permanently withhold data from QS rankings.
