ASIA’S PONTIFICAL University jumped to 141st from 150th in this year’s ranking of top Asian universities, after recording its lowest standing in five years in 2013, data from British consultancy Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) showed.

With a score of 42.4, UST trailed behind state-run University of the Philippines, which climbed four notches to 63rd (58.70 points). Meanwhile, Jesuit-led Ateneo de Manila slid to 115th (46.4) from last year’s No. 109.

UST bested De La Salle University of the Christian Brothers, which remained in the 151-160 bracket.

New entrant Ateneo de Davao, also a Jesuit institution, was good for the 251-300 bracket, while the Davao-based University of Southeastern Philippines failed to make it to the list this year after figuring in the 251-300 bracket last year.

The Dominican-run UST led Philippine schools in two out of nine indicator rankings. The QS Asian university rankings are based on nine criteria namely: academic reputation (30 percent), employer reputation (10 percent), faculty-student ratio (20 percent), citations per paper (15 percent), papers per faculty (15 percent), and proportion of international faculty, international students, student inbound exchange, and student outbound exchange with identical weights of 2.5 percent.

For the third straight year, UST topped other Philippine schools in the citations per paper category with a score of 98.1, despite going down five notches to No. 12. UP improved to 73rd from 84th in 2013 while Ateneo de Manila slid to 201st.

In the international faculty criterion, UST also led Philippine universities, ranking No. 116, followed by UP and Ateneo de Manila in 201st.

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In the employer reputation indicator, UST slightly improved to 74th spot from 77th last year. UP slid 10 places, but still led Philippine schools at No. 41. Ateneo de Manila dropped three notches to No. 48.

UST also recorded better results in the international students, papers per faculty, and student inbound exchange indicators, placing 201st in these categories. UP and Ateneo de Manila tied with UST in all categories except in student inbound exchange, where Ateneo de Manila ranked 45th.

However, UST crashed to 120th from 107th in academic reputation, trailing behind UP and Ateneo de Manila which ranked 46th and 66th, respectively.

UST also declined 11 places to 201st in the faculty-student ratio indicator, trailing behind UP, which ranked 155th, and Ateneo de Manila, which grabbed the 184th place.

In the student outbound exchange indicator, UST declined to 201st from 157th, sharing the spot with UP. Ateneo de Manila, meanwhile, ranked 68th.

The National University of Singapore is now the top Asian university after posting a perfect score of 100, dethroning Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which ranked fifth with a score of 98.4.

1 COMMENT

  1. For the last 3-4 years, the University of Santo Tomas has been part of the top 10 universities in Asia in terms of research impact. This sets UST as a productive research university and no longer exclusive for teaching and community services. For me, UST successfully performed the 3 functions of an educational institution: teaching, research, and community service. Though it got lower scores in academic reputation, I consider the pontifical university’s track record as excellent considering the employability of Thomasians in their respective fields. A European company like QS ranks more than 400 colleges and universities in Asia and only ranks the top 300 in the region; and changes in rankings are normal since the other universities have more international linkages and had earlier publications abroad. UST has not yet established a reputation in the executive circles of the G20 countries but it will soon follow, given the quantity of research papers produced by the university faculty and students. UST is popular in Asia and not yet popular in the top secular universities of North America and Europe. UST is considered a top university by employers from Southeast Asia, Middle East, Vatican City, U.S. Catholic universities, and the other Catholic schools in the world. The news on the achievements of UST will reach all parts of the Americas and Europe 10-15 years from now.

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