Seoul National University (SNU) has ranked 44th in an influential international university rankings released Monday.

SNU jumped from 59th last year to 44th to rank the highest among Korean universities in the 2013-2014 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) moved up 12 notches to 56th place while Pohang University of Science and Technology (Postech) slipped ten slots to rank 60th. A total of seven Korean universities were among the top 400. 

Times Higher Education, a British institution, evaluates around one thousand world universities and announces the top 400 list based on criteria such as teaching, global reputation, research, and citations.

In the latest rankings, the California Institute of Technology came out on top while Harvard and Oxford tied for second.