Rankings of universities in Thailand dropped in the latest Times Higher Education global report, below institutions in Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The report released on Wednesday put the four best Thai universities in the 801-1,000 band. They were:

•     Chulalongkorn University
•     King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi
•     Mae Fah Luang University
•     Mahidol University

Their positions dropped from last year when Mae Fah Luang and MU were in a higher group of 601-800.

This year, Chiang Mai was the only university in the 1,001-1,200 group, while five others were grouped in the 1,201-1,500 cluster. They were:

•     Khon Kaen University
•     King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok
•     Prince of Songkla University
•     Suranaree University of Technology
•     Thammasat University

Singapore's two universities led the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries. The National University of Singapore was 19th and Nanyang Technological University jumped 10 places from last year to 36.

Universiti Brunei Darussalam in Brunei was the only higher education institution in Southeast Asia other than Singapore in the 301-350 grouping.

The best two universities in the Philippines and Malaysia were both in the 351-400 band.

Indonesia was the only country in the region whose best university, the University of Indonesia, was ranked lower than its Thai peers. It stayed in the 1,001-1,200 tier.

The world's best rated university was still the University of Oxford, for seven consecutive years. The United States dominated the top 10 with seven universities led by Harvard at second, and the rest were in  the United Kingdom.

The world rankings this year covered 1,799 universities from 104 countries and regions, the largest in the 19-year history of the rankings.