Five University of California campuses were ranked among the top 50 universities worldwide by Times Higher Education magazine in its 2010-11 World University Rankings.

UC Berkeley was rated at number 8, followed by UCLA (11), Santa Barbara (29), San Diego (32) and Irvine (49). Also among the rankings: UC Davis (54) and UC Riverside (117).

This year's rankings — 200 in all — were compiled using a new methodology which, with data supplied by Thomson Reuters, places less importance on reputation and heritage than in previous years and gives more weight to hard measures of excellence in all three core elements of a university's mission — research, teaching and knowledge transfer. It includes a section dedicated to the teaching and learning environment, including a global survey of institutions' teaching reputation. In all, it features 13 separate performance indicators, across five broad categories:

• Teaching — the learning environment — 30 percent
• Citation impact — a normalized measure of research influence — 32.5 percent
• Research — volume, income and reputation — 30 percent
• International mix — staff and student ratios — 5 percent
• Industry income — measuring knowledge transfer — 2.5 percent

Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education World University Rankings, said: "The new methodology that has been introduced for the 2010-11 provides an accurate and reliable picture of global higher education." Added Ann Mroz, editor of Times Higher Education: "Our rankings are the major global benchmark of worldwide university performance, used by academics, students and policymakers to make important decisions. They clearly show that investment in higher education does produce world-class universities, and those institutions that have performed well should be congratulated."