Korea chases global top 100, but world's leading universities take different paths

SINGAPORE, LONDON, SEOUL — Breaking into the world’s top 100 has become a common ambition among Korean universities. However, the world’s leading university ranking agencies have a surprising response for institutions chasing higher positions: Stop chasing the rankings. "The dog should wag the tail, the tail should not wag the dog," said Phil Baty, chief global affairs officer at Times Higher Education (THE), cautioning universities against allowing rankings to dictate their priorities. "Rankings should inform university strategy and decision-making, not drive them." Ben Sowter, senior vice president at QS, raised a similar concern, warning that universities risk losing their competitive edge if they all pursue similar strategies. “The important thing is that you build a really nuanced strategy where you don’t have a whole group of universities trying to do exactly the same thing as each other,” he said. “In that context you end up competing with yourselves rather than necessarily distinguishing yourselves internationally.” Global university rankings are evolving to reflect