KU ranked 16th in the QS University Rankings: Asia 2016.
Among Korean private universities, KU took the top place on the list.

According to the QS University Rankings: Asia 2016, released on 14 June by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the UK agency that rates universities around the world, Korea University ranked 16th among 517 top universities in Asia. Elevating the university to first place among Korean private universities, this year's ranking was an all-time high.

Compared to the previous year, the university ranked three places higher on the Asian universities list and two places higher among Korean universities. This trajectory was superior to those of other major universities in Korea, which saw their rankings fall or remain unchanged. 
The rating agency assessed the performances of 517 universities from 17 Asian countries including Korea, China, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Among the nine criteria of performance assessment, KU demonstrated a sharp improvement in the following three areas: citations per paper (8 places higher than the last survey), faculty/student ratio (8 places higher), and proportion of international faculty (7 places higher).

▲ Rankings of major universities since 2012. Korea University has seen a steady climb in its ranking.

To assess how 'international' each university is, the next four indicators are used: proportion of international faculty, of international students, of inbound exchange students, and of outbound exchange students. Korea University took 25th place in terms of 'internationalization,' higher than other Korean schools such as Yonsei University (32nd), KAIST (46th) and Seoul National University (60th). To be specific, the university had the largest proportions of on-campus international students and inbound exchange students among Korean private universities. This illustrated that the university has not devoted itself to internationalization to no end. In fact, KU has been in pursuit of a qualitative transformation in this respect, not a primarily quantitative advance.

Earlier this year, the university achieved a high ranking in 23 out of a total of 42 possible subjects on the QS World University Ranking by Subject, ranking in the global top 100. Among Korean private schools, KU ranked highly in the most subjects in these rankings. From 2012 to 2016, the university has gradually added to its entries, proving its success in achieving an optimal balance of development between Humanities and Natural Sciences.