THE UNIVERSITY remained the fourth best Philippine school in the 2025 Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) Asia University Rankings, despite falling two spots down to 181st out of 984 universities.
In the latest QS Asia rankings released Nov. 6 (Philippine time), UST retained its 2024 overall rank among Philippine institutions with an overall score of 42.0, an improvement from 28.7 in the previous edition.
UST continued to lead Philippine schools in indicators measuring internationalization efforts.
It placed 23rd in the country in the outbound student exchange indicator and 78th in terms of inbound student exchange, the lone Philippine university to enter Asia’s top 300 in both criteria.
UST topped Philippine schools in the ratio of international faculty by placing 71st in Asia, but fell to 211th from 172nd in the criterion measuring the proportion of international students.
Here are its scores in the 11 indicators:
- 43.3 in academic reputation;
- 79.4 in employer reputation;
- 20.9 in faculty/student ratio;
- 21.1 in international research network;
- 5.1 in citations per paper;
- 2.7 in papers per faculty;
- 1.2 in proportion of staff with doctorate degrees;
- 69.6 in proportion of international faculty;
- 29.3 in proportion of international students;
- 79.9 in proportion of inbound exchange students; and
- 99.8 in proportion of outbound exchange students.
A total of 25 Philippine universities were ranked in the 2025 QS Asia rankings, with the top four universities sliding from their previous rankings.
The University of the Philippines remained the top school in the country despite dropping eight places to 86th. It was followed by Ateneo de Manila University, which slipped to 142nd from 137th, and De La Salle University, which dropped to 163rd from 154th.
Central Mindanao University (851-900), Cebu Technological University (851-900), Central Luzon State University (851-900), and Central Philippine University (851-900) entered the QS Asia rankings for the first time.
West Visayas State University, Angeles University Foundation, University of Southeastern Philippines, University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, and University of Southern Mindanao also broke into the rankings, all landing in the 901+ bracket.
QS Senior Vice President Ben Sowter said Philippine schools faced hurdles in criteria related to research and personnel in the 2025 edition of the rankings.
“Key hurdles remain for the Philippine higher education sector, particularly in areas relating to personnel and research,” Sowter said in a press release.
“Investing in high-quality staff will provide a solid foundation from which to tackle these challenges, bolstering the quality of its research output and further enhancing its international reputation,” he added.
Meanwhile, the country saw improvements in its standing with international employers, international agenda, and academic stature, with 15 of 16 Philippine universities improving their ranks in these indicators.
“Prioritising international recruitment can boost diversity, innovation and cross-border collaboration,” Sowter said.
Peking University remained the top university in Asia, followed by the University of Hong Kong and the National University of Singapore in the second and third spots, respectively.
The 2025 QS Asia University Rankings drew the highest number of participating schools so far, soaring to 984 schools across 25 countries and territories, compared to 856 institutions last year.
The QS assessed the performance of participating universities using 11 performance indicators: academic reputation (30 percent), employer reputation (20 percent), faculty/student ratio (10 percent), international research network (10 percent), citations per paper (10 percent), papers per faculty (5 percent), staff with doctorate degrees (5 percent), proportion of international faculty (2.5 percent), proportion of international students (2.5 percent), proportion of inbound exchange students (2.5 percent), and proportion of outbound exchange students (2.5 percent).
