THE UNIVERSITY’s education studies subjects earned a spot for the first time in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by Subject, placing second among Philippine schools in the 2025 edition.
UST landed in the 501-600 bracket globally in the education studies category, joining state-funded University of the Philippines (UP). De La Salle University led Philippine schools after placing within the 401-500 bracket.
The University scored 21.6 in teaching, 12.0 in research environment, 52.6 in research quality, 32.8 in industry, and 57.3 in international outlook.
Latest THE subject rankings released Jan. 22 also showed UST’s medical and health subjects improving to the 601-800 global bracket from 801-1,000 in the 2024 edition. It ranked second in the Philippines.
For the sixth consecutive year, UP’s medical and health subjects ranked No. 1 in the Philippines after remaining in the 501-600 bracket worldwide.
Asst. Prof. Nestor Ong, head of UST’s QS/THE Rankings office, attributed the University’s improved rankings to robust curricula and increased faculty research productivity and publication rates.
“The University’s strengths lie in its comprehensive curriculum, experienced faculty, and strong emphasis on research quality,” Ong told the Varsitarian. “Furthermore, its research quality has been recognized as a vital component of its academic excellence.”
The United Kingdom-based THE uses education, teacher training, and academic studies in education to rank schools in the education studies area.
Medicine and dentistry and other health subjects are used to evaluate performance in the medical and health discipline. UST does not have a dentistry program.
While it improved in the two subjects, UST failed to rank in nine other fields, namely: arts and humanities, business and economics, computer science, engineering, law, life sciences, physical sciences, psychology, and social sciences.
Ong said UST must enhance research productivity across other disciplines to break into the rankings.
“To enhance its rankings in other subjects, UST could focus on expanding its research capabilities across various disciplines by investing in faculty development programs and encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration,” he said.
For the 14th consecutive year, the University of Oxford in England held the top spot in the medical and health field, topping 1,150 institutions ranked in that subject.
Stanford University in the United States overtook the University of California, Berkeley for the No. 1 spot in the education studies area.
THE required institutions to publish at least 1,000 relevant publications from 2019 to 2023, with at least 100 publications annually. Education studies and medical and health subjects require 100 and 500 publications, respectively.
An academic staff threshold of at least 1% or 20 academic staff in the education studies field and 5% or 50 faculty members in the medical and health area are also required to be ranked.
THE World University Rankings by Subject assessed schools’ performance in each field based on teaching (29.5%), research environment (29%), research quality (30%), international outlook (7.5%), and industry (4%).