Seoul National University kept its top spot for the eighth year in a row in the 2023 JoongAng Ilbo university rankings announced Monday, with Jeonbuk National University ranking the highest among the universities outside greater Seoul.

The top five universities for the 2023 JoongAng Ilbo university rankings remained the same as last year, with Seoul National University coming first, followed by Yonsei University, Sungkyunkwan University, Hanyang University and Korea University.

Kyung Hee University ranked sixth, followed by Ewha Womans University, Dongguk University and the University of Seoul. Konkuk University and Chung-Ang University tied for 10th place.

The JoongAng Ilbo has been publishing the rankings since 1994, with this year's looking at 46 four-year universities.

The comprehensive rankings only analyze schools that offer degrees in at least four out of the six major academic fields, which are humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, arts and physical education, engineering and medicine. Universities like KAIST and Pohang University of Science and Technology that focus on science and technology or other specific fields are excluded from the comprehensive rankings but included in separate assessments of natural sciences and technology fields.

The comprehensive assessment evaluates universities on four areas — faculty research, educational environment, student education and social reputation — on a scale of 300.

The faculty research criterion looks into citation counts, the number of articles published in international journals and research grants.

The student education criterion looks into the employment rate, entrepreneurship training opportunities and the dropout rate of students of both domestic and international students, with graduate school enrollment rate added for the first time this year.

The educational environment criterion looks into the amount of financial aid offered, dormitory capacity, the number of international students and faculty they have and how actively they work with universities abroad.

The social reputation criterion is based on a survey of 400 human resources managers, 400 high school teachers and 1,000 parents conducted by pollster Research & Research.

Although Seoul National University secured its top spot again this year, the runner-up, Yonsei University, has narrowed the gap.

Compared to last year's three-point gap, the two universities are only two points away from each other in this year's rankings.

According to the JoongAng Ilbo, Yonsei University's score in the student education criterion was one of the factors that helped. There were 301 students that participated in its career training program this year, up 307 percent from the previous year's 74.

Kyung Hee University rose two slots to sixth place, getting high marks in international student-related fields such as the educational environment and the student education criteria.

The university's international student population stood at 2,971, or 11 percent of its total 25,960 students, the highest ratio among the universities in the rankings. The dropout rate for them was low as well, at 4.3 percent.

"We try to offer many programs that help international students with their studies, along with mental health programs," Chung Jong-pil, head of the university's center for strategic planning.

The University of Seoul ranked ninth, up from the previous year's 11th.

The university received high scores in the faculty research criterion for its focus on urban administration and development. The university attracted 6.2 billion won ($4.2 million) more in research grants this year, with the two fields accounting for 2.4 billion won.

"Many developing countries come to the University of Seoul to learn our know-how regarding urban administration and development," said Chung Yun-doo, head of the university's office of research affairs.

Jeonbuk National University ranked 19th, up from the previous year's 24th place and becoming the highest-ranked university outside the greater Seoul region.

Pusan National University had that title in 2022 but fell from its previous year's placement of 24th to 22nd.

Jeonbuk National University got high points in partnership with the local government, partnering with local businesses and investing 20 billion won in research regarding secondary batteries and carbon composites.

It was also selected as one of the Glocal University 30 project winners, getting 100-billion-won funding from the government in the next five years to enhance its competitiveness.

"We plan to actively operate research projects in partnership with local industries, helping revitalize the city and creating new opportunities that can drive growth," Baek Ki-tae, head of the university's bureau of planning and coordination, said.

BY LEE HOO-YEON, LEE GA-RAM, KIM SEO-WON, LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]