□ DGIST (President Kunwoo Lee) ranks fourth worldwide and first in South Korea by citations per faculty according to the 2026 QS World University Rankings (QS WUR) released by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a college and university analytics firm in the United Kingdom.
□ Citations per faculty is a measure of the frequency at which researchers worldwide cite the research papers of the professorial faculty of a higher education institution. It is a key indicator of a university’s research quality and academic impact. The DGIST’s 2026 ranking was determined based on citations from 2019–2024 regarding papers its faculty published between 2019 and 2023.
□ DGIST achieved a perfect record of 431.7 citations per faculty member over a 5-year period, more than eight times the global average of 52.0. Despite its short history—DGIST was established in 2004 and opened its graduate and undergraduate schools in 2011 and 2014, respectively—it ranked seventh worldwide when it first entered the QS WUR in 2024 and ascended three places to fourth this year, thus distinguishing itself as a preeminent global research university.
□ These achievements stem from the emphasis on interdisciplinary research at DGIST. Its researchers demolish the boundaries between disciplines to achieve the institution’s mission to become an innovative university that changes the world through convergence. Collaboration across various fields beyond the traditional departmental system has led to creative and impactful research results.
□ DGIST President Lee Kunwoo said, “The achievement of being ranked fourth worldwide despite our short history—that is, just 11 years for the undergraduate school and 14 years for the graduate school—evidences international recognition of our unique research philosophy. We will focus on physical AI, human digital twins, and quantum sensing, which DGIST has recently selected as future strategic areas. We also intend to become a global innovation hub by further strengthening global partnerships.”
□ The QS WUR is a portfolio of global rankings of colleges and universities. Released annually, rankings are based on nine indicators, including academic and industry reputation, student–faculty ratio, citations per faculty, internationalization, and sustainability. Hence, a higher education institution’s ranking is a key indicator of its global competitiveness. This year, Harvard University ranked first by citations per faculty, followed by the City University of Hong Kong and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in second and third place, respectively. DGIST ranked fourth behind these world-renowned universities, demonstrating its substantial contribution to the research prowess of Asia.
