Last month UCLA beat USC in U.S. News & World Report's annual “Best Colleges” ranking of national universities. The Bruins came in at number 23, the Trojans at 25.

Those are way respectable showings in America's most-watched list of schools. But there's another list out there, one that claims to rank the best 400 universities in the world.

See also: UCLA Beats USC in “Best Colleges” Ranking

And the Times Higher Education roster out of London has two Los Angeles-area schools in its top 12:

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Caltech was ranked number 1 by the publication's “World University Rankings 2014-2015.”

Times Higher Education notes that the Pasadena school … 

 … boasts 31 Nobel laureates among its past and current faculty and alumni. Caltech manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA, and owns and operates a global network of astronomical observatories and research facilities.

Caltech ranked sky high in “citations” and “research,” according to its listing.

But Caltech wasn't the only university in town with global stature. For the second time in a row the list placed UCLA at number 12. The Westwood campus also ranked high in citations and research.

Times Higher Education says this about UCLA:

Credit: Caltech at night via RBerteig/Flickr

Credit: Caltech at night via RBerteig/Flickr

Close to Hollywood and with a celebrated film and television school, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a cinematic magnet. Established in 1919, it has about 26,000 staff and around 38,500 students. A leader in college athletics, the institution comprises five undergraduate colleges, seven professional schools and five health science schools.

The school took the recognition in stride. This week it released a statement of its own about the Times Higher Education accolade, stating:

UCLA has performed very well in a variety of other recent rankings. In August, Washington Monthly ranked UCLA No. 1 in its ranking of “affordable elite” universities and No. 5 in its list of national universities that contribute to serving the public interest. Also in August, Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked UCLA second among U.S. public institutions and No. 12 overall.

Credit: Times Higher Education

Credit: Times Higher Education

Other California universities in the top 12 included Stanford (number 4) and UC Berkeley (number 8). UC Santa Barbara made number 37. UC San Diego came in at 41.

USC was way down at number 75. Sorry Trojans. There's always next year.

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