英國泰晤士報高等教育特刊3日公布2012-2013世界最佳大學排行榜報告，美國加州理工學院蟬聯第一名，去年第二名的哈佛大學退居到第四名。亞太地區國家大學的排名上升，北京大學從去年第49名升到46名，清華大學更勁升19名，從71名升到52名；全球前200名最佳大學，仍以美國占76所最多，英國31所排第二。

File photo of California Institute of Technology.

The University was ranked 20th on a 2012-2013 list released Thursday of the top 400 universities in the world.

The list is released annually by the Times Higher Education, a British higher education publication. The rankings are based on 13 variables divided into five categories that measure university performance: teaching, research, citations, industry income and international outlook.

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said though he’s proud of how the University fared, rankings aren’t the most important indicator of a university’s success.

“What you or I may have picked for a college is something that’s unique and individual,” Fitzgerald said. “So rankings are nice, but they are not what students should be basing their decisions on where to attend college.”

Though the University dropped two spots from last year’s rankings, Phil Baty, the editor of the Times Higher Education Rankings, said it was a difficult year for American and British institutions. Specifically, she noted tough competition from Asian institutions benefitting from significant funding and government support, according to a University press release.

California Institute of Technology was ranked first, followed by the University of Oxford and Stanford University. The University of Michigan was the third-highest ranked American public institution in the Times’ rankings. The University of California, Berkeley came in ninth and the University of California, Los Angeles ranked 13th.

Baty said in the release that the top 200 schools comprise just 1 percent of the world’s colleges and universities.

In addition to ranking the world’s top institutions, the Times Higher Education also ranks world universities by reputation, which measures a university’s global brand.

The University ranked 12th on the list of institutions with the best world reputations.

(Agencies)

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