The 21 best universities in the world

English-speaking universities continue to dominate the world, according to a new ranking from the Times Higher Education supplement released Thursday.

And for the first time in the ranking's 12-year history, a UK university hit the number one spot. It knocks the five-time champion, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), into second place.

The rankings are based on teaching, research, and citations of every university, with each category weighted at 30% of the overall mark.

Industry income and international outlook were also taken into account but were given a much smaller weighting in the eventual score.

Here are the top 21: