GIST: Top 2 in the World – Technological research capacity
GIST was ranked second in the world for ‘Citations per Faculty’ as reported by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), a worldwide university assessment agency based in Britain, on September 14, 2015.
Being ranked second in the world is the best GIST has ever performed in this category, having been ranked fourth in the world just last year.
The highest ranked school in this category for this year went to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Rounding out the top five schools after GIST were the California Institute of Technology (3rd), Princeton University (4th), and the University of California-Santa Barbara (5th).
(source: www.topuniversities.com)
Citations-per-faculty, evaluated in a manner that takes into account the size of an institution, is the best understood and most widely accepted measure of an institution"s research strength. Often calculated on a “per paper” basis, the QS World University Rankings™ has adopted a “per faculty member” approach since its inception in 2004.
GIST was ranked 15 in this category after its first entry in 2008 and has been climbing every year since. In particular, in 2012, GIST for the first time was ranked in top 10 after being ranked seventh; then in 2013, GIST advance again and was ranked sixth in the world. GIST"s momentum forward continued in 2014 after it was ranked fourth in the world in the category of citation-per-faculty.
‘Citation per Faculty’ rankings from 2008 to 2015
GIST has been able to maintain and increase its world-class research capabilities in part because of the excellent research environment that GIST has created for researchers that enables them to focus on their research.
GIST provides a ‘Start-up Budget’ to every new faculty member that allows them to create a suitable lab for their research objectives. For these new faculty members, GIST also waives their performance evaluation for two years so they can focus on establishing their research facilities and to aid in their smooth transition into the GIST environment. Moreover, if these new faculty members make a special request within two years after their appointment at GIST, one semester of teaching responsibilities can be exempted to enable them to concentrate on their research.
For full-time faculty members, GIST offers the ‘Distinguished Professor’ system for world-class academic research or for excellent results in education, research, or in other activities. Such outstanding faculty members will be appointed to the honorary title of ‘Distinguished Professor’ and will be given extra laboratory space as well as other benefits and special incentives.
For those with excellent research achievements, GIST offers the ‘GIST Senior Fellow’ system that continues even after their formal retirements. They can remain at GIST and continue with their research and laboratory work. GIST does this to recognize and honor their accomplishments at GIST and to provide inspiration to other researchers and students.
In addition, GIST uses a ’70:30’ rule for faculty evaluation to ensure autonomy while emphasizing excellence in each major, research, and activity. Every faculty member can select among any one of their strongest points in education, research, or service, which then counts for 30% of their total evaluation.
Professors also realize that students are their research partners, and this helps to ensure that college, master"s, and Ph.D. students actively participate in every aspect of research. Studies indicate that by providing research opportunities to their students, professors improve their own research results, and that contributes to a steady growth of global research excellence at GIST.
GIST requires 100% of the graduate students to participate in research projects for them to bridge their knowledge between research and education. Furthermore, GIST provides research grants, paid teaching assistantships, as well as scholarships to graduate students to allow them to focus on academics.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning has conducted a performance evaluation among the research facilities over a period of three years (2011-2013), and GIST received the top ‘Excellence’ rating from the evaluation.
GIST President Seung Hyeon Moon said, “This year’s evaluation result proves once again that GIST has a solid foundation in delivering world-class research results, and, with our superb research capabilities, we will continuously strive to contribute to Korea"s industrial development as well as to the local economy. As we focus more and more on technology commercialization and entrepreneurship, our aim is to increase national economic competiveness and prosperity to help benefit all Koreans.”