4 Philippine universities in world rankings by subjects

MANILA, Philippines — Four Philippine universities still made it to the latest list of world’s best universities by subject released by international higher education information provider Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

The University of the Philippines again had the most subjects on the list, ranking in 15 out of 51 disciplines, although down from last year’s 18.

Both the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) and De La Salle University (DLSU) ranked in four subjects each, while the University of Santo Tomas still ranked in Medicine, but fell to 601-650 from 551-600 last year.

ADMU entered the rankings in Modern Languages (251-300) and Business and Management Studies (451-500), while retaining its rank in English, Language and Literature (201-250). It fell in Sociology (301-320, from 251-300).

For the broad field, ADMU retained its place in Social Sciences and Management (451-500), while it dropped in Arts and Humanities (451-500, from 401-450).

DLSU entered the rankings this year in Business and Management Studies (301-350) and Economics and Econometrics (451-500), while retaining its rank in Linguistics (201-250) and English, Language and Literature (201-250).

In the broad fields, DLSU retained its rank in Social Sciences and Management (401-450) and Arts and Humanities (451-500).

Most notably, UP lost its ranking in the subjects of Performing Arts and Development Studies, where it recorded its best performance last year at 51-100 spot.

It also lost rank in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, where it debuted last year at 451-500 band.

UP also dropped in rankings in five subjects: Archaeology (201-220, from 151-200), Linguistics (251-300, from 201-250), Sociology (251-300, from 201-250), Environmental Studies (301-350, from 251-300) and Biological Sciences (551-600, from 501-600).

It retained its rank in 10 other subjects: Politics and International Studies (101-150), English Language and Literature (151-200), Agriculture and Forestry (151-200), Geography (151-200), Modern Languages (251-300), Law (251-300), Medicine (301-350), Business and Management Studies (351-400), Economics and Econometrics (351-400) and Computer Science and Information Systems (551-600).

This year, the QS rankings covered 51 subjects or disciplines, grouped into five broad fields.

For the broad fields, UP improved its ranking in Social Sciences and Management (252nd, from 258th) and Life Sciences and Medicine (401-450, from 451-500), while it retained its spot in Arts and Humanities (304th)

It also regained its ranking in Engineering and Technology (501-550) while it remains unranked in Natural Sciences.

The rankings were based on four indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper, and the “H-Index” that measures both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar affiliated to the university.