Sejong University ranks as the 46th best in Asia, according to the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2021. It marked the first time in school history to crack the top 50 in the region, the university said Thursday.

While other universities in Korea struggled to improve their scores from the British institute for higher education, the school said that Sejong University’s latest reputational jump recorded the biggest climb in Asia, up 32 places from last year’s 78th.

The school received good marks for the citation criteria, which measures how many times its research has been cited by scholars across the world. THE rankings gave a citation score of 86.9 for Sejong University in its latest publication. With that, Sejong University captured Korea’s second best score in citation for two consecutive years.

THE rankings evaluate universities’ performances by looking at five indicators -- teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income. With its high credibility based on higher education’s core missions, the THE rankings are considered among the three most influential university grades in the world, along with the QS World University Rankings and Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Sejong University’s research has also been recognized by another global university evaluation institute. The 2021 Leiden University Evaluation, which grades universities based on the quality of their theses, recognized Sejong University with the top spot among general universities in the country for a fourth year in a row.

“We are very happy to enter the top 50 universities in Asia. This achievement was possible because all members of our university have made great efforts to improve the quality of education, research and revitalization of graduate schools,” a Sejong University official said.

“From now on, Sejong University will become one of the top 100 prestigious schools in the world.”

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)