MANILA, Philippines — Five universities from the Philippines made it to this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, which measure sustainability efforts of universities worldwide.
The THE Impacts Rankings assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. SDGs are a collection of 17 global goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.”
The Ateneo de Manila University emerged as the top higher education institution in the Philippines in terms of actions taken toward the SDGs. It was ranked in the 201 to 300 bracket.
Fr. Roberto Yap SJ, university president, said ADMU’s performance showed the university “can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s top institutions when it comes to actual real-world impact.”
“It is proof that our community is able to affect change in our society, in our classrooms, to our research and creative work, and our social development programs,” Yap said.
ADMU was followed by the De La Salle University, which was listed in the 401 to 600 bracket.
Other universities included in the list were the University of Santo Tomas and the Tarlac Agricultural University in the 601 to 800 bracket, and the Mapua University in the 801 to 1,000 bracket.
TAU, located in Camiling, Tarlac, is the only public university among the five tertiary institutions. Its major programs include agriculture, biosystems engineering, food technology, veterinary medicine, forestry and other agriculture-related programs.
“TAU has continuously improved its ranking among SUCs and has achieved Level4 status in the last Commission on Higher Education leveling exercise,” CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera III said.
The University of Manchester in the United Kingdom topped the THE Impact Rankings.