How, for instance, did UCLA move from 12th in the world to ninth overall in the THE rankings between 2011 and 2012 at the exact moment the California legislature was slashing its budget to ribbons? Was it because of extraordinary new efforts by its faculty, or was it just a quirk of the survey sample such as statistical noise, or a drop in the percentage of respondents coming from the United States? (Year-to-year changes in the geographical distribution of the reputational survey respondents is believed to be a significant source of variation in the reputation rankings, but the THE does not publish enough information about this to be certain).