[CONFERENCE] Korean universities need stronger international reach to compete globally: experts

Korean universities need stronger practical internationalization to compete globally, experts said Tuesday at the closing session of the Korea Times Global Conference. Speakers said Korean schools have improved in labor-market relevance and research commercialization, but still lag Asian peers in attracting international faculty, expanding English-language offerings and building cross-border research links. They also warned that AI will make university benchmarking harder and pushed schools to focus on distinctive impact and resilient skills.

The panel was titled Enhancing Global Competitiveness of Korean Universities in the AI Era and closed this year’s Korea Times Global Conference.

Leigh Kamolins is vice president of evaluation and insights at Quacquarelli Symonds, and Ashley Mok is Asia-Pacific vice president of consultancy at Times Higher Education.

THE said Korean universities perform strongly on patents that cite university research, reflecting growth in research commercialization and industry links.

Mok said leading universities elsewhere in Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong, have been more deliberate about bringing international faculty onto campuses and building cross-border research collaborations.

Kamolins said many Korean universities still need to tell their story better to academics abroad and show stronger impact for society outside Korea.

Published Sep 15, 2026 4:03 pm KST

From left, Lee Hi-kyoung, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Korea University, Leigh Kamolins, vice president of evaluation and insights at Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), and Ashley Mok, Asia-Pacific vice president of consultancy at Times Higher Education (THE), take part in the session titled "Enhancing Global Competitiveness of Korean Universities in AI Era" during the 2026 Korea Times Global Conference at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Over the past decade, Korean universities have made notable strides in their standing with employers, as their ability to produce a talented workforce better aligns with the actual needs of the labor market, while also establishing a strong track record in translating academic research into commercial applications.

Yet they have yet to match their Asian peers in one area that is increasingly important to global competitiveness: practical internationalization.

That shortfall is becoming harder to overlook as universities are called upon to help solve to problems that transcend national borders, from artificial intelligence (AI) to climate change, experts from two leading higher-education analytics firms said Tuesday.

The remarks came during a panel discussion titled “Enhancing Global Competitiveness of Korean Universities in the AI Era,” the closing session of this year’s Korea Times Global Conference.

Leigh Kamolins, vice president of evaluation and insights at Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), first pointed to the evolution in both the quality of Korea’s academic workforce and the value it delivers to the domestic labor market.

“There’s this emerging connection between the ability of Korean universities to provide the skills that matter to the workforce within the country. This is something that was a very different picture 10 years ago,” he said.

Ashley Mok, Asia-Pacific vice president of consultancy at Times Higher Education (THE), highlighted a parallel strength in the relationship between university research and industry.

THE tracks patents that cite university research, and Korean institutions perform particularly strongly on that measure, a reflection of the country’s growth in research commercialization and industry links, Mok said. At the leading universities, those links are reinforced by close research partnerships with industrial heavyweights such as Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Hyundai Motor.

However, the picture is less encouraging when it comes to internationalization in practice.

Leading institutions elsewhere in Asia like Singapore and Hong Kong have been more deliberate about bringing international faculty onto their campuses and building cross-border research collaborations that produce results beyond individual projects, Mok said.

“For Korea, I believe it’s one of the most examined in terms of the English language. But there is quite a gap in terms of English curriculum offerings in top Korean universities and across the board.”

Kamolins pointed to another consequential deficit: the standing Korean universities receive from academics abroad. Their contributions may be well recognized within home, but many institutions have yet to build the same visibility among their international peers.

“Are they perceived as making a really strong impact for society? There is still some work to be done for many Korean universities in telling that story outside of Korea.”

The stakes extend beyond rankings. As universities confront problems that cut across borders, a stronger international presence could open opportunities for Korean institutions to share their research and expertise more widely. “There is a lost opportunity here if we don’t make the rest of the world aware of what is on offer here in Korea,” Kamolins said.

From left, Lee Hi-kyoung, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Korea University, Leigh Kamolins, vice president of evaluation and insights at QS, and Ashley Mok, Asia-Pacific vice president of consultancy at THE, take part in a session during the 2026 Korea Times Global Conference at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

The spread of AI across academia is also likely to complicate how universities measure their progress, Mok said, as the technology makes it possible to produce far more research and other academic output than before.

For universities, that makes it all the more important to define what distinguishes them, rather than simply measuring themselves against the same set of benchmarks.

“It’s about understanding what the impact is that your university is making at your own specialty level,” he explained.

Kamolins similarly urged institutions to look beyond easily measured outputs and consider whether they are equipping students with skills that will remain valuable as the nature of work changes.

“It’s about whether the universities are producing resilient skills around problem solving and thinking that are going to be needed to navigate this world where none of us know what it’s going to look like in 10 years’ time,” he said.

But Mok cautioned against turning AI itself into another standardized yardstick for comparing universities.

“Then it becomes an arms race,” he said. “AI has to be for the common good of humanity, rather than just another benchmarking exercise for us.”

Rather than a simple comparison of who is using more of the technology, the more useful question is where each institution stands today and how it can deploy its resources most effectively from there, he said.

专家周二在《韩国时报》全球会议闭幕式上表示，韩国大学需要加强国际化实践以提升全球竞争力。发言者指出，韩国高校在劳动力市场相关性和科研成果商业化方面有所进步，但在吸引国际师资、拓展英语授课项目以及建立跨境科研合作方面仍落后于亚洲其他高校。他们还警告称，人工智能将使大学评估更加困难，并敦促高校更加注重培养独特的影响力和适应性技能。

该小组讨论的主题是“人工智能时代提升韩国大学的全球竞争力”，为今年的《韩国时报》全球大会画上了句号。

Leigh Kamolins 是 Quacquarelli Symonds 的评估和洞察副总裁，Ashley Mok 是 Times Higher Education 的亚太区咨询副总裁。

上述韩国大学在引用大学研究成果的专利方面表现强劲，反映出研究成果商业化和产业联系的增长。

莫克表示，亚洲其他地区的顶尖大学，包括新加坡和香港，在引进国际教师和建立跨境研究合作方面更加谨慎。

卡莫林斯表示，许多韩国大学仍需更好地向海外学者讲述自己的故事，并展现对韩国以外社会更强大的影响力。

发布于2026年9月15日下午4:03（韩国标准时间）

图为韩国高丽大学文学院院长李熙京（Lee Hi-kyoung，左起）、Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) 评估与洞察副总裁 Leigh Kamolins 以及《泰晤士高等教育》(THE) 亚太区咨询副总裁 Ashley Mok，他们于周二在首尔韩国工商会大楼参加了2026年《韩国时报》全球大会，并在会上发表了题为“人工智能时代提升韩国大学全球竞争力”的演讲。照片由《韩国时报》崔元硕（Choi Won-suk）拍摄。

过去十年，韩国大学在雇主心目中的地位取得了显著进步，因为它们培养人才的能力更好地契合了劳动力市场的实际需求，同时在将学术研究转化为商业应用方面也取得了良好的成绩。

然而，在对全球竞争力日益重要的一个领域——实际国际化——他们仍然没有赶上亚洲同行。

两家领先的高等教育分析公司的专家周二表示，随着大学被要求帮助解决从人工智能 (AI) 到气候变化等超越国界的各种问题，这种差距变得越来越难以忽视。

这些言论是在题为“在人工智能时代提升韩国大学的全球竞争力”的小组讨论会上发表的，该讨论会是今年《韩国时报》全球大会的闭幕式。

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) 评估与洞察副总裁 Leigh Kamolins 首先指出，韩国学术劳动力的质量及其为国内劳动力市场带来的价值都在不断发展。

他说：“韩国大学培养本国劳动力所需技能的能力正在逐渐增强。这与十年前的情况截然不同。”

《泰晤士高等教育》(THE)亚太区咨询副总裁Ashley Mok强调了大学研究与产业之间关系的强大之处。

莫克表示，THE追踪引用大学研究成果的专利，韩国高校在这项指标上表现尤为突出，这反映了韩国在科研成果商业化和产业联系方面的增长。在顶尖大学，这些联系通过与三星电子、SK海力士和现代汽车等行业巨头的紧密研究合作得到进一步加强。

然而，就国际化实践而言，情况却不那么乐观。

莫克表示，亚洲其他地区（如新加坡和香港）的领先机构更加注重引进国际教师，并建立跨境研究合作，从而产生超越单个项目的成果。

“就英语水平而言，我认为韩国是考核最严格的国家之一。但韩国顶尖大学乃至整个社会在英语课程设置方面都存在相当大的差距。”

卡莫林斯指出了另一个重要的不足：韩国大学从海外学者那里获得的声誉。这些学者的贡献在国内或许广受认可，但许多院校在国际同行中尚未建立起同样的知名度。

“人们是否认为它们对社会产生了真正强大的影响？对于许多韩国大学来说，在向韩国以外地区讲述这个故事方面，还有很多工作要做。”

这不仅仅关乎排名。随着大学面临诸多跨国挑战，增强国际影响力将为韩国高校创造更多机会，使其能够更广泛地分享研究成果和专业知识。“如果我们不让世界了解韩国的优势，我们将错失良机，”卡莫林斯说道。

图为周二在首尔韩国商工会议所大楼举行的2026年《韩国时报》全球大会上，韩国大学文学院院长李熙京（Lee Hi-kyoung）、QS评估与洞察副总裁Leigh Kamolins以及泰晤士高等教育亚太区咨询副总裁Ashley Mok（从左至右）出席会议。照片由《韩国时报》崔元硕（Choi Won-suk）拍摄。

莫克表示，人工智能在学术界的普及也可能使大学衡量自身进步的方式变得复杂，因为这项技术使得大学能够产出比以往多得多的研究成果和其他学术产出。

对于大学而言，这就更加重要了，我们需要明确自身的特色，而不是简单地用同一套基准来衡量自己。

他解释说：“关键在于了解你的大学在你所在的专业领域产生了怎样的影响。”

卡莫林斯也同样敦促各机构不要只关注容易衡量的产出，还要考虑他们是否在为学生提供随着工作性质变化而仍然有价值的技能。

他说：“关键在于大学是否培养出能够应对未来挑战、解决问题和思考问题的能力，因为我们谁也不知道10年后这个世界会变成什么样子。”

但莫克告诫说，不要将人工智能本身变成衡量大学的另一个标准化标准。

“那样的话，它就变成了一场军备竞赛，”他说。“人工智能必须造福全人类，而不能仅仅成为我们自身的又一次基准测试。”

他表示，与其简单地比较谁使用的技术更多，更有价值的问题是每个机构目前所处的位置，以及如何才能最有效地利用其资源。