Take That, Harvard

The California Institute of Technology has plenty to brag about these days, and the university took its bragging rights straight to its website.

Caltech created a “Ca#1tech” graphic for its homepage Thursday after it was rated the world’s number one university in the 2011-2012 Times Higher Education World University rankings of the top 200 universities.

Caltech overtook Harvard University, which has held onto the top ranking in the survey’s eight-year history.

Three other California schools are in the top 20. Stanford University tied with Harvard for second place, and UC Berkeley and UCLA came in tenth and thirteenth, respectively.

According to a news release on Caltech’s website, the rankings are based on thirteen performance indicators representing research, teaching, citations, international outlook and industry income.

“The differences at the top of the university rankings are miniscule, but Caltech just pips Harvard with marginally better scores for ‘research-volume, income, and reputation,’ research influence, and the income it attracts from the industry. With differentials so slight, a simple factor plays a decisive role in determining rank order: money,” said Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in a written statement.

To that point, the survey shows many U.S. universities that depend on public funding, including UC Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara, all slipped in the rankings compared to a year ago, according to Baty.

Caltech reported a 16 percent rise in research funding, according to the survey.

”Caltech has been one of California’s best-kept secrets for a long time,” said Caltech trustee Narendra Gupta. “But I think the secret is out!”