The world ranking of Korean engineering faculties improved greatly in the latest World University Rankings released on Tuesday.

In the rankings by subject released by Quacquarelli Symonds, Seoul National University came 17th and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) 20th in chemical engineering.

In last year's rankings, SNU was 38th and KAIST was not in the top 50.

In mechanical, aeronautical and manufacturing, KAIST moved up to 19th from the 51-100 group and SNU ranked 29th. Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Sungkyunkwan and Yonsei were in the top 100.

In computer science and information systems, KAIST moved up to 40th. It reached 29th in electrical and electronic engineering. Last year, it ranked between 51st and 100th in both categories.

SNU jumped from last year's 48th to 38th in civil and structural engineering and from 44th to 29th in chemistry.

The rankings firm explained that the technological progress of Korean conglomerates like Samsung and LG means that Korean universities are also more highly recognized. University education in Korea also developed in line with the industries that the country is competent in.

Quacquarelli Symonds grouped numerous subjects into 30 categories, and ranked universities based on criteria such as academic reputation, employer reputation, and citations per faculty.

A total of 2,858 universities across the world were included in the study, and 678 universities made the top 200.

Korea had 17 universities in the top 200 this year, three more than last year.

[Read this article in Korean]