Cornell University is ranked No. 19 in the world out of 980 institutions, the third time in the last four years it has achieved that mark, according to the 2016-17 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings published Sept. 21 by The Times of London.

Cornell, which was ranked No. 18 in the poll last year, ranks 14th out of 148 U.S. universities that made the list. Asia has continued its rise in world standing, with 290 universities from 24 countries making the rankings, including 19 in the top 200.

Institutions from 79 countries, nine more than last year, appear in this year’s rankings. Algeria, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Georgia, Kuwait, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Venezuela are represented for the first time.

This year, THE changed the definition of some of the data points requested in its survey. For example, last year’s survey asked for undergraduate/new student intake, master or equivalent/new student intake, and doctoral/new intake. This year’s survey asked for total undergraduate, total masters and total doctoral.

THE World University Rankings use 13 performance indicators, grouped into five areas (teaching, research, citations, international outlook, industry income), to examine universities’ strengths.

Cornell showed strong performance in two indicators, teaching and research (ranked 19th in both), but performed weak in industry income (615th) and international outlook (274th). Cornell ranked 29th in citations.

For the first time in the rankings’ 13-year history, a U.S. institution is not No. 1. The University of Oxford, U.K., supplanted five-time champion California Institute of Technology. The U.S. still has strongest overall showing, with seven institutions in the top 10 and 15 in the top 20. The world’s top 200 features 63 U.S. institutions.

“The Times Higher Education World University Rankings apply rigorous standards, using tough global benchmarks across all of a global research university’s key missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook,” said Phil Batey, editor of THE World University Rankings. “The results are trusted by students and their families, academics, university leaders and governments.

“The top 980 list represents just five percent of the world’s higher education institutions,” he added, “so we congratulate all universities who have made this year’s list.”