THE UNIVERSITY earned a spot for the first time in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, placing third best among Philippine schools.
UST tied for third with De La Salle University, after both placed in the 1501+ bracket globally in the 2024 rankings released on Sept. 27.
In the 2023 edition, UST failed to secure a ranking but earned “reporter” status, meaning it participated in the ranking process.
Asst. Prof. Nestor Ong, head of the UST Office of the QS/THE Rankings, attributed the improvement to the rectification of the number of the University’s research output.
According to the THE website, universities must submit at least 1,000 papers, with a minimum of 150 a year, published in journals indexed by Elsevier’s Scopus database in the last five years to be given a rank.
The University did not secure a rank last year after it failed to meet the required 150 publications per year in 2018, Ong said.
In the 2024 rankings, UST emerged as the top Philippine school in terms of international outlook with a score of 67.
UST scored 25.8 in research quality, 20.7 in industry, 19.6 in teaching, and 9.5 in research environment.
For the University to continue improving its rankings, Ong said it must boost research strategies and programs.
“Retaining and improving our performance in the THE World University Rankings require further strategies and programs that focus on strengthening the research competency of faculty members and supporting research publications in Scopus-indexed journals,” he said.
A total of 14 Philippine universities joined the 2024 THE world rankings, four more than last year’s 10.
Ateneo de Manila University retained its spot as the country’s top university but fell to the 1,001-1,200 bracket globally from 351-400 last year.
The University of the Philippines slipped to the 1,201-1,500 bracket from last year’s 801-1,000, to place second in the country.
Central Luzon State University, University of Eastern Philippines, Mariano Marcos State University, and Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, entered this year’s THE rankings and were given reporter status.
Six other Philippine universities were declared reporter institutions.
The University of Oxford remained the top university worldwide, a spot it has held for eight years in a row.
A total of 1,904 universities across 108 countries were ranked by the THE this year, while 769 universities were listed with the reporter status.
The THE updated its methodology in the latest edition of its world rankings to add five more performance indicators to the 13 indicators it had used.
The THE World University Rankings assess a university’s performance in five areas: research quality (30 percent), teaching (29.5 percent), research environment (29 percent), international outlook (7.5 percent), and industry (4 percent). Ernest Martin G. Tuazon
