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From the LA Times Report...(as related by young Mr. Coyne)
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Caltech celebrated the announcement Wednesday that it has been ranked the world's best research university by a British higher education magazine, beating Harvard University in the listing for the first time.
The Pasadena institution, which specializes in science and engineering, was first in the World University Rankings by the Times Higher Education magazine in London. Harvard had topped the list since the ranking began in 2004 but slipped to second this year, tied with Stanford University. TheUniversity of California system had five campuses ranked in the top 40 worldwide.
Caltech placed second last year, and its current rise to first by a small margin over Harvard was due largely to increases in its research funding, an official with the British publication said. The listing relies heavily on universities' research budgets, faculty publication and the effects of research.
"It's not that Harvard has declined. It's that Caltech has just slightly edged across the line in the indicators," Phil Baty, the editor overseeing the rankings, said Wednesday.
The rest of the top 10, in order, were the University of Oxford, Princeton University, the University of Cambridge, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, the University of Chicago and UC Berkeley.
Other California campuses in the top 100 included UCLA at 13; UC San Diego, 33; UC Santa Barbara, 35; UC Davis, 38, tied with Australian National University at 38; USC, 55; andUC Irvine, 86.
(Scott: Wisconsin - Madison was rated 27th in the world, 3rd in the Big Ten (I know what you all care about) Yes... the evil Wolverines were 18 and Northwestern 26 - so close!)