Caltech Ranked First in Physical Sciences

Caltech's physical-sciences program is number one among world universities in this year's Times Higher Education rankings, sharing the top spot with Princeton.

"We're pleased that Caltech is recognized as one of the world's best universities in the physical sciences," says Tom Soifer, chair of the Division of Physics, Math and Astronomy. "We take great pride in our research and in educating the world's leading scientists of the future."

Last year, Caltech's physical-sciences program was second to Harvard. This year, Harvard drops to sixth while UC Berkeley, MIT, and Stanford fill out the top five. Times Higher Education has also listed Caltech as the top university in the world and has placed Caltech's engineering and technology program first.

In addition to physical sciences and engineering and technology, Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011–2012 ranks four other subjects: arts and humanities; clinical, preclinical, and health; life sciences; and social sciences. Out of the top 50 physical-sciences programs, 27 are in the United States.

The rankings are based on data compiled by Thomson Reuters. For the complete list of the world's top 50 physical sciences-programs—as well as the rest of the rankings and all the performance indicators—go to the Times Higher Education website.