Last year, Dutch universities already climbed in the ranking of Times Higher Education (THE) magazine, but this year they’ve performed even better. This year, seven Dutch universities are in the top one hundred compared to only four last year.

Once again, the list is headed by the California Institute of Technology, followed by Oxford and Stanford sharing second place, and Harvard, having been the undisputed number one for years, in third position. The University of Leiden (64) has surpassed Utrecht University (67). Tilburg University is the only Dutch university that didn’t make it into the top 200, although they’re close.

Last year, chief rankings editor at Times Higher Education Phil Baty was already profuse in superlatives. He said the Netherlands was a “major global higher education powerhouse”. And now the Netherlands are doing even better, he said in a statement over the phone.