Hankuk University of Foreign Studies vs Universidade de São Paulo - USP vs Le Cordon Bleu Paris vs Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology - KAIST vs Association of Asia-Pacific Business Schools - AAPBS

Side-by-side comparison from 68 verified student reviews. Scan one row at a time — winners are highlighted

Quick verdict
Higher overall rating: Le Cordon Bleu Paris (4.60)
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies: wins 1/7 categories
Universidade de São Paulo - USP: wins 0/7 categories
Le Cordon Bleu Paris: wins 3/7 categories
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology - KAIST: wins 0/7 categories
Association of Asia-Pacific Business Schools - AAPBS: wins 0/7 categories
Tongmyong University: wins 0/7 categories
Pukyong National University: wins 3/7 categories
Comparing
Best programme: B.Sc. in Political Science: Global Politics
Best programme: Dentistry
4.60
Top
Read more reviews
10 reviews
×
Best programme: Culinary Arts
Best programme: Computer Science
busan, South Korea
Not rated
Read more reviews
0 reviews
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Best programme: Business
Category ratings
Facilities
3.00
4.00
4.40
4.75
Not rated
Not rated
5.00
Win
Location
3.00
4.22
4.70
Win
3.85
Not rated
Not rated
Not rated
Professors
4.00
4.04
4.60
Win
3.75
Not rated
Not rated
4.00
Internationality
3.00
4.29
4.60
Win
2.55
Not rated
Not rated
3.00
Student life
5.00
Win
4.29
3.90
3.15
Not rated
Not rated
4.00
Value
4.00
4.29
3.90
4.05
Not rated
Not rated
5.00
Win
Accommodation
3.00
3.35
3.00
3.90
Not rated
Not rated
5.00
Win
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • +Vibrant international atmosphere and student activities
  • +Supportive professors and well-regarded alumni network
  • +Focus on internationalism and exchange student support
  • +Strong academic programs and knowledgeable professors
  • +Valuable networking opportunities and diverse peer interactions
  • +Excellent campus facilities and student support services
  • +Exceptional teaching quality from passionate, experienced instructors
  • +Unmatched precision, emphasis on quality, and professional skill development
  • +Welcoming environment, strong support, and valuable alumni network
  • +High-quality academics and challenging curriculum
  • +Excellent facilities and research opportunities
  • +Financial benefits and student support

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  • +Student opportunities and helpfulness
  • +Specialization in fisheries studies
Cons
  • -Students dislike administrative & management issues.
  • -Students dislike outdated facilities.
  • -Students dislike lack of clear communication.
  • -Administrative and management issues cause significant frustration.
  • -Outdated facilities and technology hinder learning.
  • -Lack of clear communication and support from instructors is a common complaint.
  • -Administrative and management issues cause frustration.
  • -Outdated facilities and lack of modern resources are disappointing.
  • -The curriculum feels irrelevant and disconnected from real-world needs.
  • -Administrative and management issues are a major source of frustration.
  • -Outdated facilities and lack of resources hinder learning.
  • -Poor communication and unclear expectations cause confusion.

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  • -Administrative and management issues create significant frustration.
  • -Outdated facilities and a lack of modern resources are a recurring problem.
  • -Inconsistent teaching quality and a disconnect from practical applications are major drawbacks.
Rating summary
What students say

This institution receives top marks for student life, achieving a perfect score. It also scores well in its academic offerings and perceived value for money. However, its facilities, location, and accommodation all received average ratings, indicating potential areas for improvement. Internationality is also rated moderately.

Overall, this university garners strong to excellent ratings in several key areas. Student life, internationality, and value for money all achieve a high score of 4.29. Location also scores well at 4.22. Professors and facilities are rated solidly at 4.04 and 4 respectively. The weakest area identified is accommodation, with a rating of 3.35.

This university demonstrates exceptional strength in its **location** (4.7), **professors** (4.6), and **internationality** (4.6). Students are particularly impressed with the quality of instruction and the global environment. Conversely, **accommodation** stands out as the lowest-rated area at 3.0, suggesting room for improvement in this aspect. Student life and value for money also received moderate scores.

Examining the provided ratings, the university demonstrates notable strengths in its **Facilities**, achieving an impressive 4.75. **Value** also scores highly at 4.05. Conversely, **Internationality** presents the most significant area for improvement, with a rating of 2.55. Other categories like Professors, Location, Student Life, and Accomodation fall within a moderate range, suggesting a solid but not exceptional experience in those aspects.

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Excellent marks are awarded for facilities and accommodation, both receiving perfect scores. Student life and professors also garner strong reviews. However, the university's location is a significant weakness, scoring zero. Internationality is rated moderately, while value for money is excellent.

Reviews summary
Highlights

All 6 reviews are positive, averaging 4.33/5 stars. Students highlight the welcoming atmosphere, enjoyable campus, and supportive international student organization, with excellent experiences as exchange students.

Nearly all (~100%) reviews are highly positive, praising valuable networking opportunities, current academic content, and excellent professors. No negative feedback was provided.

Students highly praise the exceptional quality of teaching and knowledgeable instructors. Facilities are noted as impeccable and the learning environment welcoming, contributing to professional and personal growth for ~100% of reviewers.

Nearly all reviews are positive, highlighting good professors, peers, and overall satisfaction. The average rating is 3.9/5.

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This university is highly rated, with ~100% positive feedback and an average of 4/5 stars. Students highlight beneficial opportunities and recommend specific programs like fisheries studies. The university is noted as not being widely known.

Rating distribution
5★
33%
55%
60%
15%
0%
0%
0%
4★
67%
35%
40%
60%
0%
0%
100%
3★
0%
10%
0%
25%
0%
0%
0%
2★
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
1★
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Most useful review
Most liked
From an Exchange Program

As an exchange student it was a little difficult for me, at least at the beginning, to comunicate and find locations inside the Campus. The majority of the staff (unless they were in the International office) did not speak English, so you need to fond korean classmates/friends that will help you with that (they are really nice!). Out of that I really liked the classes taken there. Unfortunately, my classes where not given by any korean proffesor; only foreign ones. But sitll I really liked them. The knowledge is wide and it becomes easy in participating at sessions. Besides, the self-studing method becomes the best tool to improve your knowledge and have good grades!There are also a lot of team work which gives the result of many opinions and points of view that are fun to work with. All of the classes where given in the new buliding and that was really good. But all the rest of the buildings had an old infraestructure. Maybe they could invest and upgrade those buildings. The location of the Seoul Campus is really good because it is near the subway and if the cafeteria food does not suit for you, you will have a lot of options around it. In general I really liked my experience at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

My opinion about University of Sao Paulo (USP)

I truly love the University of São Paulo. It’s not only the best university in Latin America, but also one of the most respected institutions in the world. What makes USP so special to me is its massive research infrastructure. The academic environment encourages curiosity, and for students who stand out, there are countless opportunities — whether in research, internships, or academic exchange. What I admire most is how knowledge is taken seriously here. Professors are highly qualified, and you’re constantly surrounded by brilliant minds. It’s a challenging space, but it pushes you to grow. However, if there’s something I think could be improved, it’s the way the institute’s funding is managed. In many cases, the needs of undergraduate students are not the top priority. It often feels like the investment is directed elsewhere, rather than towards improving the daily life and academic support for those who are just starting their journey in higher education. Still, despite its flaws, I would definitely recommend USP. It’s a place that shapes people — not only academically, but personally. If you’re willing to engage and take advantage of everything it offers, USP will open doors you never imagined.

Student in 2013

I really enjoyed my time at LCB! I've found that my skills when I entered the work force were much higher than others. I think though there was a big portion missing in recipe development and composition. True- we did learn it through memorizing the recipes, but we really were missing classes on how different ingredients affect the final textures.. how you can change them... etc. That I still am not an expert in .. and I create recipes! Ouf! Also, I don't know if you still do a month of sugar work... but that really wasn't necessary and should be either cut or minimized to just 2 lessons. It's such a niche skill to know that I would have really preferred more technical skills. I loved the old location. The "rumors" I'm getting about the new location are that it's not as good, unfortunately - that i's become more of a money focused/marketing machine. I really hope that this image can be fixed as I love LCB and enjoyed my time there! Oh also - there should be more help for students to get jobs and featuring old students accomplishments - from cookbook launches to new bakeries so that current and old students can support them.

Great tech education; not so great instructors

I did my undergrad in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science here, graduated in 2022. Pros: good research, great facilities, good programmes, completely free tuition, inexpensive accommodation + allowance, flexibility in course choice, wide material coverage, all pros of Korea (e.g. safety, convenient travelling) Cons: strict attendance, some lectures of poor quality, competition and relative grading, hard to make local friends/connections, all cons of Korea (e.g. no English whatsoever outside campus) The school is very much research-oriented, with lots and lots of great resources and facilities to do research. So if you want to do a research graduate or post-graduate course here and you like a particular programme, this is definitely a good place for you. That said, most profs are good researches, not necessarily good educators. University-wide policy is that every course essential for degree completion is taught in English. Thus, with a few exceptions in Humanities, and some very obscure courses, you won't have to learn Korean. The professors had to learn English though. And despite that most of them have lived for a certain period of time in the US, some really struggle to teach in English. In worst cases it will come down to the professor simply reading the slides in the lecture. Couple that with a strict attendance policy, you get a pure torture. On a positive note, most of the newly coming young profs are not like that. Lab/research experience is also very different across different professors. Some are complete grind where you only do what professor tells you to do, and end up working 55+ hours a week. Some are nice and cheerful productive environments where you can even have your name on the authors list of couple papers being an undergrad, and enjoy the research process throughout. The courses choice is wide and the programme is really flexible about what you do. This is especially true for larger departments like the School of Electrical Engineering - which is in fact, called "School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering" in Korean, and I don't even know why the word Electrical is even there - you won't get to learn anything like High Power Electrics. Depending on a course, the amount of theory and hands-on differs significantly from completely theoretical courses to labs with almost zero theory taught. Overall, I would like to get slightly more hands-on experience, but it was alright. The material coverage is on a very good balance in between breadth and depth. Perhaps, it's trying to get both breadth and depth, which results in a relatively high workload. And this high workload is something that is partly fuelled by all grading being done relatively. For example, to get an A, you don't have to score 90% - you have to be roughly above avg + 1 stddev of the normalised score distribution in your group. This encourages some instructors and assistants to either make the workload extremely high, or make the exams extremely difficult just for the sake of difficulty, or both. Yet, if you don't care too much about your grades, but still keep studying, it's hard to fail a particular course. Social life is something that is difficult to have in KAIST if you are an international student. 90% of the students are Korean, and most of them feel shy to/don't really want to reach out to international students. Reaching out to those people yourself will rarely help. Out of the remaining students most are not too much into socialising. What are the chances that you'll like the remaining few? Most clubs are also primarily Korean with all their activities conducted in Korean. Should be somewhat easier if you speak Korean, but not necessarily as easy as it would be elsewhere in the world.

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