Is Yale starting to lose its mojo?

The University ranked fourth in U.S. News and World Report’s fourth annual version of the “World’s Best Universities” rankings today, falling one spot from last year’s third place finish. While the University of Cambridge and Harvard University held first and second place with overall scores of 100.0 and 99.3 points respectively, MIT jumped two places from fifth to third place this year, notching an overall score of 99.2. The scores are based on data from the QS World University Rankings, which has been publishing international rankings since 2004. Yale earned 98.8 points, losing points in the international faculty and international students categories.

The new 2011 rankings include the top 100 Latin American universities and the top 100 Asian university rankings for the first time, in which Brazil’s Universidade de São Paulo and Hong Kong’s University of Science and Technology came in first, respectively.

Also new to the list are university rankings in 24 subject areas, across five major categories: Arts and Humanities, Engineering and Technology, Life Sciences, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. Yale came in fifth for the study of English Language and Literature, as well as sixth for the study of politics and international studies.

Despite falling one spot overall, Yale still topped Princeton, which landed at number 13 in the rankings.