China: By Lin Liyao, California Institute of Technology has been ranked the world's best university for 2011-2012 in a list published in the Times Higher Education (THE) magazine in early October. It is the first time that CIT has outranked Harvard University on the list, as the latter slipped to joint-second with Stanford after having topped the list since 2004. In order to capture the full range of university activities across the globe, the rankings employ 13 separate performance indicators which are grouped into five headline categories: teaching — the learning environment (worth 30 percent of the overall ranking score), research — volume, income and reputation (worth 30 percent), citations — research influence (worth 30 percent), industry income — innovation (worth 2.5 percent) and international outlook — staff, students and research (worth 7.5 percent). Apart from an overall ranking of the world's top 400 universities, the magazine also lists the best universities by region and subject. • Full list: Top 400 universities in the world 2011-12 • Top universities by region: Europe, North America, Source: Top Asian universities for 2011-12 - China.org.cn
