The California Institute of Technology and USC moved up in an annual ranking of universities around the world released Feb. 28, while UCLA fell a couple notches.

The ranking, from London-based QS Quacquarelli Symonds, which specializes in ranking higher education institutions, lists the world’s top 959 higher education institutions, based on the opinions of over 75,000 academics and 40,000 employers along with a scan of 12.3 million research papers sorted by the university that published the papers.

Caltech moved up to No. 4 in this year’s ranking, behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and Harvard University. Last year, Caltech was ranked No. 5; in moving up this year, it passed Cambridge University.

UCLA fell to the No. 33 spot on the list from No. 31 last year. And USC move up four spots to No. 132.

In a separate ranking that compiled each university’s “Top 10” rankings across 46 comparison categories, UCLA ranked No. 7, with 14 rankings in the Top 10. Cambridge University was No. 1, with 36 rankings in the Top 10, while UC Berkeley was No. 3 with 34 rankings in the Top 10.

Economy, education, energy and transportation reporter Howard Fine can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @howardafine.