MANILA, Philippines — The University of the Philippines is still regarded as the best university in the country based on the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings in Asia for 2024, while four other local universities made it to the list for the first time.
A total of 16 universities in the country appeared in the education think tank’s Asia rankings released on Nov. 8, with University of San Carlos in Cebu (ranked 551-600), Polytechnic University of the Philippines (551-600), Far Eastern University Manila (701-750) and Mindanao State University (801+) marking their ranking debut.
UP improved to 78th place among Asian universities, from 87th in the 2023 rankings.
Ateneo de Manila University ranked 137th, three rungs lower from 134th in the previous year.
De La Salle University rose to 154th place from 171st in the previous year while the University of Santo Tomas (UST) dropped to 179th from 175th.
Other Philippine universities that made it to the prestigious rankings were Adamson University (551-600), Mapua University (601-650), Silliman University (601-650), Ateneo de Davao University (651-700), Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology (701-750), Saint Louis University (751-800), Xavier University (801+) and Lyceum of the Philippines University (801+).
The QS Asia Rankings is published annually since 2009 to highlight the top universities in the region.
In a statement posted on its website, the QS said this year’s edition was the “largest ever,” covering 856 institutions from 25 countries and territories.
Peking University in Beijing, China retained the distinction as the top university in Asia with a perfect score of 100. The University of Hong Kong, with an overall score of 97.9, climbed to second place from fourth the previous year.
The National University of Singapore came in third with a score of 97.2, followed by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Tsinghua University which both garnered a score of 96.1.
Faculty, research
The QS report showed that while a majority of Philippine universities have good reputation among employers and the academic community, they scored poorly in terms of faculty expertise or percentage of faculty members with PhD, research papers produced per faculty, papers with citations as well as in terms of faculty to student ratio.
UP, which had an overall score of 48 points, fared well in terms of employer reputation and academic reputation at 77.7 and 61.2 points, respectively. It also scored well in terms of international research network at 68.4 points, showing strong collaboration with international research institutions.