Seoul National University, widely considered Korea’s top institution of higher education, took the No. 4 spot in a British magazine’s annual ranking of Asian universities released Thursday.

According to the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2014, SNU made the jump from No. 8 in 2013 into the top 5 this year. Joining SNU in the elite top 10 group were Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Pohang University of Science and Technology, in the eighth and tenth spot, respectively.

Korea was ranked third in terms of most representatives with 14 institutes in the top 100. Japan topped the list with 20 representatives, with China on its heels with 18. China’s top-ranked institute was Peking University in fifth place.

“South Korea is a rising star in both the global and Asia rankings: as one of the world’s biggest spenders on education and research, perhaps such impressive progress is to be expected,” said Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education Rankings. “It has more top 10 institutions than any other nation, and Seoul National University has risen further than any rival at the top of the table.”

Baty added that while the global list of top universities is still dominated by North America and Western Europe, Asian institutions are making strong progress and are starting to provide serious challenges to the traditional elites in the West.

The Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2014 used the same methodology as its World University Rankings. It used 13 indicators including learning environment, volume and influence of research and percentage of international students.

The complete list can be seen at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)