THE UNIVERSITY kept its position as the No. 4 school in the Philippines in the 2026 Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) Asia Rankings, despite dropping three places to 184th among 1,530 universities.
UST however improved its overall score to 53.5 from last year’s 42.0. It also led Philippine schools in indicators for outbound exchange students, placing 26th with a score of 100, and in the inbound exchange students indicator, placing 107th.
The University ranked among the top Philippine schools in terms of the proportion of international faculty, and placed 98th in Asia.
It placed 282nd in the international students criteria, a drop from its previous ranking of 211th.
Here are the University’s scores among the 11 indicators:
- 61.1 in academic reputation;
- 87 in employer reputation;
- 22.1 in faculty-student ratio;
- 55.2 in international research network;
- 12.9 in citations per paper;
- 3.2 in papers per faculty ratio;
- 10.4 in staff with doctorate degrees (PhD);
- 69.9 in international faculty;
- 30.4 in international students;
- 93.5 in inbound exchange students; and
- 100 in outbound exchange students
A total of 35 Philippine universities were ranked in the latest edition of QS Asia University Rankings.
The University of the Philippines fell 18 spots to 104th but remained the top Philippine university.
It was followed by Ateneo de Manila University, which advanced one spot to 141st, and De La Salle University, which dropped from 163rd to 178th.
Ten Philippine schools entered the rankings for the first time, namely Visayas State University (1,101-1,200 range), National University (1,201-1,300), Technological University of the Philippines (1,301-1,400), University of Mindanao (1,301-1,400), Batangas State University – The National Engineering University (1,401-1,500), Caraga State University (1,401-1,500), Mariano Marcos State University (1,401-1,500), Bulacan State University (1,501+), Ifugao State University (1,501+), and Western Mindanao State University (1,501+).
The University of Hong Kong secured the top spot in Asia, followed by Peking University at second and Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore at third.
The 2026 QS Asia University Rankings recorded the highest number of participating schools to date, with 1,530 universities across 25 countries, a significant increase from last year’s 984 schools.
QS assessed the performance of universities using 11 indicators: academic reputation (30%), employer reputation (20%), faculty-student ratio (10%), international research network (10%), citations per paper (10%), papers per faculty (5%), staff with PhD (5%), international faculty (2.5%), international students (2.5%), inbound exchange students (2.5%), and outbound exchange students (2.5%).
Established in 2009, the QS Asia University Rankings is an annual assessment of universities in Asia each year.
The ranking criteria is based on metrics similar to the World University Rankings, but reflecting the priorities for universities in Asia.
