3 UP campuses, DLSU lead web rankings in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - The University of the Philippines' (UP) Manila, Diliman and Los Baños campuses are the best performing academic institutions in the country based on their web impact, a Spanish research firm revealed.

According to the Spanish National Research Council's Webometrics Ranking of World Universities 2013, the De La Salle University (DLSU) ranked fourth while Bukidnon State University landed in the fifth place in terms of "presence, impact, openness and excellence" as expressed in their online impact.

DLSU's sports rival Ateneo de Manila University's overall web-based performance is sixth in the Philippines, followed again by the University of the Philippines System at number seven.

University of Santo Tomas, University of the Assumption and Aquinas University, respectively, complete the top ten slots in the nationwide web presence assessment.

The ranking conducted since 2004 was built from publicly-available web data, using specially designed "composite indicators" such as visibility and activity to develop the global study, the research organization said on its website.

"The objective is not to evaluate websites, their design or usability or the popularity of their contents according to the number of visits or visitors. Web indicators are considered as proxies in the correct, comprehensive, deep evaluation of the university global performance, taking into account its activities and outputs and their relevance and impact," it added.

In explaining its methodology, the Spanish agency said that it also used link analysis for quality evaluation "as it is a far more powerful than citation analysis or global surveys." 

The council also recommends that if a school's rank falls below its expected position, its officials can reconsider improving or adjusting their online policies and increase their electronic publications.

In Asia, the National University of Singapore bested all other higher education institutions, followed by Tsinghua University in China and the University of Tokyo.

No Philippine university, however, made it to the top 400 in Asia, as UP Manila fell at 403rd place and UP Diliman ranked 425th in the region.

Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, respectively, are the world's top three in the list.