Three Korean medical schools have been ranked among the top 100 medical schools in the world. Yonsei University was the highest-ranked among Korean medical schools.

This is part of the result of the “World University Rankings 2024” in the clinical and health category, released by Times Higher Education (THE), a British university ranking organization, Monday (local time). This year, 1,059 universities were evaluated, more than the previous year’s 1,001, and 25 out of 40 Korean medical schools were in the ranking.

Yonsei University College of Medicine was ranked 43rd, down from 32nd in the previous year's evaluation. However, it retained the top spot among Korean schools, surpassing Seoul National University College of Medicine. SNU’s medical school ranked 44th, slightly dropping from last year’s 42nd.

Yonsei scored higher than SNU in three of the five evaluation indicators. Yonsei scored 69.8 points for research quality, 81.8 for research environment, 83.7 for teaching conditions, 30.2 for international outlook, and 99.7 for industry (revenue & patent). SNU scored 72.6 for research quality, 81.5 for research environment, 80.4 for teaching conditions, 28.6 for international outlook, and 99.9 for industry, ahead of Yonsei only in research quality and industry.

The third highest-ranked medical school in Korea was Sung Kyun Kwan University College of Medicine, at 69th place. Sung Kyun Kwan improved 13 spots from its last ranking (82nd).

Korea University College of Medicine ranked fourth highest in Korea again, between 151 and 175. Kyung Hee University College of Medicine was ranked in the 251st-300th group, as it was in the last evaluation. The medical schools of the Catholic University of Korea, Ajou University, Ulsan University, and Hanyang University were ranked between 301 and 400. In contrast, those of Kyungbuk National University, Pusan National University, Ewha Womans University, and Chung-Ang University were ranked between 401 and 500. Catholic, Ulsan, Hanyang, Kyungbuk National, Pusan National, Ewha Womans, and Chonnam National universities saw their medical schools improve their rankings from the previous evaluation.

"Our school’s ranking is the result of our various programs to foster the next-generation scientists and educators," said Yoon Dong-sup, president and CEO of Yonsei University Health System. "We will continue to produce excellent results by not just remaining on campus but collaborating with external expert groups to achieve results in various fields such as precision medicine, artificial intelligence, and big data."

Oxford University is No. 1 in the world for 13 consecutive years

U.S. medical schools are the most in the world's top 10

The best medical school in the world is the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, which has held the top spot for 13 consecutive years. The United States has the most universities in the world's top 10 medical schools, with five.

Harvard University (U.S.) was ranked second, followed by the University of Cambridge (U.K.) at third, Imperial College London (U.K.) at fourth, Stanford University (U.S.) at fifth, Johns Hopkins University (U.S.) at sixth, University College London (U.K.) at seventh, Yale University (U.S.) at eighth, University of Toronto (Canada) at ninth, and the University of Pennsylvania (U.S.) at 10th.

The highest-ranked medical school in Asia was Tsinghua University in China, at 14th. Tsinghua ranked fifth in the last year’s rankings. The National University of Singapore ranked at No. 16 and the University of Hong Kong at No. 19, keeping their names in the top 20 global medical school list.

Times Higher Education, founded in 1971, is one of the world's most authoritative global university evaluators and has been publishing the World University Rankings every year since 2004. This year's evaluation indicators are research quality (35.2 percent), teaching conditions (26.8 percent), research environment (26.5 percent), international outlook (7.5 percent), and industry (4 percent).