National universities spent millions on global ranking strategies: data

South Korea’s state-funded universities have spent heavily on consulting and data services from global ranking agencies, as scrutiny grows over efforts to boost their standings.

An analysis of consulting contracts related to ranking strategies over the past decade at nine regional flagship national universities, released Tuesday by Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Park Sung-joon, found that some schools spent tens to hundreds of millions of won on services from British ranking firms Quacquarelli Symonds and Times Higher Education.

The spending went beyond advertising, with universities subscribing to data analysis programs tied to rankings and receiving consultation directly from the agencies.

Kangwon National University spent more than 100 million won ($71,000) annually from 2023 on THE’s “DataPoints” subscription service, which analyzes ranking indicators. Its total spending over the three years reached about 340 million won.

The service allows participating universities to compare and analyze a range of indicators, scores and distributions against institutions worldwide ranked by THE.

Using the program, Kangwon National University compiled internal reports tracking changes in its global standing across metrics such as teaching, research environment, research quality, industry collaboration and international outlook. It also compared its performance to the country’s eight other flagship regional national universities.

Kyungpook National University spent about 30 million won on THE’s analysis program in 2019 and an additional 200 million won on advertising with QS and THE between 2020 and 2025.

Gyeongsang National University paid 52 million won in 2025 for consulting services directly from QS.

Despite the spending, the impact appeared limited, with all three institutions showing little change in their rankings during the subscription periods.

The analysis also found that pressure to improve rankings has pushed some national universities to hire private consulting firms for advice.

Hanbat National University and Changwon National University paid private firms 20 million won in 2024 and 48 million won in 2025, respectively, to develop strategies for responding to rankings.

Chonnam National University also signed a contract last year worth 22 million won for similar consulting services.