Prized by Costa Ricans as the “Harvard” of Central America, the University of Costa Rica (UCR) jumped nearly 600 spots in the world rankings in terms of online visibility, according to the Spain-based High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC).

Latest numbers put UCR at 386 out of 6,000 universities in the world. In Latin America, the college is behind the University of Chile (227), the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina (291), and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, which is one of the largest public research bodies in Spain, bases the rankings on the online visibility of the schools, taking into account the number of external links feeding into their Web site and the number of pages contained in a university's web page.

In 2008, UCR ranked 940 in the world.

“Many things we do on a daily basis contributed to this result,” Henning Jensen, vice dean of research at UCR, said in a statement. “They include the protection and improvement of our identity, which has an impact on quality.”

Other Costa Rican schools that made the ranking include the National University of Costa Rica (1,316), the University for Peace (2,214) and the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights (2,458).