THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas dropped two notches in the 2015 ranking of top Asian universities, but improved its score from last year, data from the London-based consultancy agency Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed.
UST went down to 143rd from 141st in 2014, but improved its score to 43.5 points from last year’s 42.4 points.
The University of the Philippines (UP) remained the top university in the country despite dropping to 70th from 63rd place last year. UP got a score of 60.2 points, which was higher than last year’s 58.70 points.
Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University is the only Philippine university to improve its ranking, moving up to 114th from last year’s 115th.
De La Salle University also dropped to the 181-190 bracket from last year’s 151-160 bracket.
The QS Asian university rankings are based on 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 equal weights of 2.5 percent.
UST led other Philippine schools in two out of nine indicators.
For the fourth consecutive year, UST topped other Philippine universities in the citations per paper category with a score of 98.40 percent, improving to 8th place from last year’s 12th spot.
UST also led in the international faculty criterion, placing 65th with a score of 30.80 points, followed by Ateneo at 118th and UP at 131st.
In the employer reputation category, UST improved its ranking to 62nd from last year’s 74th, with a score of 72.40. UP continued to dominate other Philippine universities in this category, placing 41st with 87.50 points.
UST ranked 107th both in the academic reputation and outbound exchange categories, with scores of 43.80 and 3.70, respectively.
UST ranked 103rd in the inbound exchange category (3.60 points), 115th in the international students category (12.20 points); 146th in the faculty-student category (22.10 points), and 150th in the papers per faculty category (2.10 points).
Earlier this year, UST was awarded a 4-star rating in the QS Stars University Rating, the first and sole university in the Philippines to receive the honor.
The QS Top Universities website noted that UST graduates “consistently and yearly dominate the top ten in courses with board exams (Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Engineering, Architecture, Accountancy, Education, etc.).”
“UST has produced national heroes, church martyrs, renowned scientists, national artists, internationally renowned business people and athletes, prominent doctors, four presidents of the Philippines, three vice presidents and six Chief Justices,” it added.
The National University of Singapore retained its position as the top Asian university with a perfect score of 100. Dayanara T. Cudal
