THE UST Graduate School has obtained one of the top recommendations among graduate business schools in the Philippines, an international survey showed.
The school got a recommendation rate of 20 per 1,000 business schools, deans who voted online between October 2007 and March 2008 in the EdUniversal survey, which covered top business schools from 151 countries.
The survey, conducted by SMBG, a French consultancy firm, aims to help students in finding the best business school in terms of geographical location and international tie-ups.
A nine-man International Scientific Committee conducted extensive research on business schools around the globe to determine a geographically grouped “official selection” of business schools.
The committee reviewed international accreditations, state recognition, international and national awards and rankings, memberships in international academic associations and guilds, size and quality of international networks and partnerships, and quotations in publications and websites specialized in education before a school was included in the official selection.
Africa, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Eurasia and the Middle East, Far Eastern Asia, Latin America, North America and Oceania have representatives in the committee.
A total of 1,000 business school deans worldwide were chosen by the committee to vote online for their choice of business schools among the selection. However, they were not allowed to recommend more 50 percent of business schools in their own country.
An EdUniversal press release said, “the 1,000 selected business schools’ deans voted to give their recommendations about the 1,000 business schools of the EdUniversal official selection.”
“They listed the 1,000 schools, evaluated them, and chose the deans who will vote,” said UST Graduate School Dean Lilian Sison, who was not among the deans chosen for the survey.
UST ranked fifth among the country’s business schools in terms of recommendations.
The survey named the Asian Institute of Management as “top business school” in the country for being “internationally known,” with a recommendation rate of 217 per 1,000.
De La Salle University, Ateneo De Manila University and the University of the Philippines, trailed next with 108, 89, and 68, respectively in the “excellent” category for being “nationally known and/or with continental links.”
UST’s rating of 20 per 1,000 settled at the “good” category for its “regional influence.” The University is the only Philippine academic institution in that category.
Finally, the University of San Carlos, with a recommendation rate of 19 per 1,000, landed on the “local references” category for its “great local influence.”
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology topped the Far Eastern Asia region with a percent recommendation rate of 401 per 1,000.
The EdUniversal website said, the survey gathers recommendations to “allow students and their parents to choose the best institution wherever they live and wish to go,” and does not necessarily rank schools.
“EdUniversal is proposing to define zone by zone what the best academic opportunities are for students across a wide range of schools offering different types of international influence and ambition,” the survey’s profile, posted on its website, stated.
Sison said UST’s position in the selection should not be the sole basis in determining the schools’ international standing since the survey depended mostly on a committee, which had set the criteria.
She said factors like population and number of students in higher education were considered in selecting the 1,000 business schools in the official selection.
“That is why in countries like India, there are many schools included in the list. It is because of the socio-demographic factors,” Sison told the Varsitarian.
The survey is expected to help boost the enrollment in business schools but Sison said the Graduate School has yet to feel it.
“We were able to maintain a practically constant business student population. I think the secret here is that we are delivering the quality of education appropriate at the level where the University is in its global standing,” Sison said.
The Graduate School has been embarking on international tie-ups for the past two years to increase its global visibility, which include the publication of its faculty’s theses in international scholarly journals.
“Every semester, we have a group of business students who go to other countries like Japan and Macau and they get exposed to economic zones and to the business practices there,” Sison said.
