THE U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT'S vaunted rankings of universities published Monday again listed the UC Berkeley as the top public university in the nation. Cal shares that distinction with the University of Virginia.

If that were not enough, six University of California campuses are among the top 12 public schools. To say the university system did well would be an understatement.

For the record: UCLA was No. 4, UC San Diego was No. 7, UC Davis was No. 11, and UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara tied for 12.

When combined with private schools, Berkeley and Virginia were tied for No. 21. Harvard University topped the list followed by Princeton, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Stanford University tied for fifth with the California Institute of Technology, Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania.

The value of such rankings have drawn criticism because they appear to be so arbitrary. How could Harvard be No. 1 one year then slip to No. 3 the next? Has so much occurred to degrade a school that it could slip so much in a single year?

As pointed out by educator Gerhard Casper, how could a school such as UC Berkeley, undoubtedly one of the best in the world in terms of faculty, facilities and graduate and undergraduate education, be ranked so low (tied for No. 21 this year) when the listings for public and private institutions are combined? In case one questions Casper's praise of Cal, consider that he said this when he was the president of Stanford University, Cal's traditional rival.

The rankings provide a starting point, but parents and students should be cautious in using these rankings as the sole basis for choosing a college.

Although the innumerable rankings may have their flaws, their consensus naming Berkeley as one of the premier public universities in the country cannot be a mistake.

The challenge will be to keep it there. We cannot allow the state's financial crisis to destroy what it has taken decades to build. It is a testament to the foresight of the people of California and to the loyalty of the schools' alumni for UC to continue to be the best that higher education has to offer.