Thanks to the implementation of the Energize Dongguk project and the founding philosophy
Dongguk stands out in the fields of research competitiveness and student job placement and start-ups, entering top-ten positions for the first time.
Dongguk University (President Yoon Sung Yee) ranked ninth, the highest ever, with an eight-notch increase from the previous year (excluding 2019 and 2020) in the 2021 JoongAng Ilbo university ranking released on November 10.
Dongguk University has made it to the top-ten ranks for the first time in history with an even rise in rankings in various fields, including 5th in the student education category (formerly 8th), 12th in professor research (previously 27th), 13th in reputation (previously 16th), and 26th in educational environment (previously 22nd).
Dongguk University, which remained 17th for the last four years from 2016 to 2019, has been reborn as a research-oriented university through the "Energize Dongguk" project that began in 2019. Research competitiveness and the strengths in the fields of student job placement and start-ups were most conducive to bringing out such good results. Also highlighting this point, The JoongAng Ilbo reported, "Dongguk University (Seoul) had been below the top-20 in the overall ranking until 2010 and has remained at around 17th since 2010. However, in this year's assessment, it was included in the top ten for the first time based on the rise in the ranking of the research category and the strengths of its students' job landing and start-ups."
The research category is such an influential category since the weight of the category in the JoongAng Ilbo university ranking accounts for 32%. Dongguk University's ranking in faculty members' research category rose 15 notches from before, which led to a rise in the overall ranking. The university ranked 12th in all sub-categories of research prowess, including 11th for citations in international journal papers; 27th for technology transfer fee revenue per science and technology professor; 14th for international journal papers per professor; and 26th for on-campus research expenses per professor. Universities that swiftly improved their research competitiveness in the science and engineering field ranked 1st to 10th, ranking at the top.
Most remarkable in the JoongAng Ilbo university evaluation is found in the student education category. The student education category is related with universities' efforts to help their students advance into society, such as the quantity and quality of job placement or start-ups, on-the-job training, and start-up education. It is of particular note that The JoongAng Ilbo took into account not only the quantitative performance of student start-ups such as start-up subsidies and number of enterprises, but also qualitative aspects such as sales revenues per company, number of those employed, and persons who support start-ups.
Dongguk University scored 54.78 points out of 80 points, ranking fifth. Hanyang University (Seoul) 62.74 points; Sungkyunkwan University 56.71 points; Yonsei University (Seoul) 56.56 points; and Korea University (Seoul) 56.00 points, ranking first to fourth, respectively. It also ranked high in the job placement rate category. With both the net and the employment retention rate being in the top ten, Dongguk University once again showcased that it is a university with excellence in both "quality and quantity" of employment. The net employment rate ranked 10th with 71.44%, and the employment retention rate ranked 8th with 89.70%.
It was remarked by Yoon Sung Yee, the President of Dongguk University, upon hearing the results of the university evaluation that most important is to continue to focus on “education” itself, the base of a university by keeping the beginner’s mind to uphold the university’s foundational spirit “safeguard the nation with education.” Further to this, he mentioned that he endeavored to bring some fundamental changes in turning his university into a research-oriented one through the "Energize Dongguk" project, and that the synergies between education and research have produced these good outcomes. He also added that with the launch of the University Rebuilding Advisory Committee, which was kicked off in April 2021, this year would be the first year of the second phase of building the university, and that Dongguk University will keep pushing forward to move beyond “Energize Dongguk” toward “Globalize Dongguk."