PHILIPPINE universities lagged behind their Southeast Asian counterparts in the 2025 edition of the research-intensive Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings released on Wednesday (Manila time), although more local schools entered the annual listing.
UST landed in the 1,501+ band globally with an overall score within the 10.5 to 25.1 range. It tied with three other Philippine institutions: private schools De La Salle University and Mapúa University, and the publicly funded Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT).
Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University remained the country’s top university, placing in the 1,001-1,200 band globally. State-run University of the Philippines trailed behind in the 1,201-1,500 bracket.
With the Iligan-based MSU-IIT earning a rank for the first time, a total of six Philippine universities made it to the 2025 tally, up from five last year.
THE’s 2025 report pointed out that two Singaporean universities, the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, broke into the world’s top 30 for the first time while a Malaysian university, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, made it to the top 250.
The top universities in Brunei and Vietnam ranked within 501-600 while those in Thailand and Indonesia were in the world’s top 1,000.
“Philippine universities underperform the Asian average across most metrics except student-staff ratio, studying abroad, and international co-authorship,” the THE said. “[Their] worst performing metric compared with the Asian average is research strength.”
UST leads PH in internationalization
The University remained the top school in the country in terms of international outlook with a score of 64.4. This metric assesses the proportion of international students, foreign academic staff, and journal publications with an international co-author.
UST however ranked third in research quality (33.6), fourth in teaching (19.8), fifth in industry (20.4), and sixth in the research environment (9.7) indices in the Philippines.
Phil Baty, THE chief global affairs officer, lauded UST for retaining its position amid stiffer international competition this year because of the record number of participating schools.
“We are delighted to see that [UST] has maintained [its] ranking in band 1,501+ in the THE World University Rankings 2025,” Baty told the Varsitarian. “This is a fantastic achievement, amid great and growing international competition which sees a record-breaking 2,092 universities ranked in the 21st edition.”
Asst. Prof. Nestor Ong, head of the UST Office of the QS/THE Rankings, attributed UST’s sustained ranking to its “strong research output, international collaborations, and a consistent focus on improving teaching quality and student experience.”
Boosting research capacity is part of UST’s plans to enhance its rankings in the future, alongside establishing more international collaborations and improving infrastructure and resources for both students and faculty, he told the Varsitarian.
“Ongoing efforts to sustain or improve UST’s ranking include investing in faculty development, expanding research initiatives, and maintaining high standards in teaching and learning environments,” Ong said.
A total of 21 Philippine schools participated in the 2025 THE rankings, up from last year’s 14.
But 15 of them were declared “reporter” institutions, meaning they participated in the ranking process but fell short of the eligibility criteria to earn a rank.
MIT overtakes Stanford
The University of Oxford in the United Kingdom extended its streak as the top university worldwide, a title it has held for nine years now. Following it was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, which overtook Stanford University to rise one spot to No. 2.
A total of 2,092 universities from 115 countries were ranked by THE this year, the highest in five years, while 768 universities were listed as “reporter” institutions.
In the latest edition of its university rankings, THE updated its methodology to exclude the number of outbound exchange students from the calculation of its 18 performance indicators.
THE World University Rankings assess a university’s performance in five aspects: teaching (29.5 percent), research environment (29 percent), research quality (30 percent), industry (4 percent), and international outlook (7.5 percent). Marco Luis D. Beech with reports from Mabel Anne B. Cardinez
