KAIST was placed 60th in the 2013 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World Universities Rankings, the highest record since QS started compiling rankings in 2004. University rankings in science and technology subjects excelled as well, placing KAIST 36th in the engineering and technology faculty ranking. KAIST has shown a significant rise in QS ranking, from the humble beginnings as 198th place in 2006 to 63rd place last year.

Subject rankings were added to the list of rankings in 2011, and KAIST’s respective departments have shown strong performance in science and engineering subjects. Mechanical engineering ranked the highest, placing KAIST 19th in this subject. Chemical engineering was placed at 20th, with electrical engineering at 29th. Subject ranking in the natural sciences placed KAIST 31st place in chemistry and 35th in materials science. Computer science ranked at 40th place, and civil engineering at 45th.

First compiled in 2004, the QS World University Rankings currently considers over 2,000 institutions, and ranks over 800 universities worldwide. The rank is measured by academic reputation from a global survey (40%), faculty student ratio (20%), citation per faculty (20%), employer reputation from surveys (10%), proportion of international students (5%), and proportion of international faculty (5%). Points for employer reputation and citation per faculty has risen ten points compared to last year, which greatly helped placing KAIST at a higher rank among global universities.

The top three highest ranking universities were Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at first, Harvard University at second, and University of Cambridge at third place. Only two universities in South Korea were ranked in the top 100, with Seoul National University at 35th in the lead, followed by KAIST at 60th place. Other Korean universities included in the statistics were Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) at 107th, Yonsei University at 114th, and Korea University at 145th place.