THE UNIVERSITY’s life sciences and social sciences subjects entered the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by Subject for the first time, joining its education and health sciences programs in the 2026 edition.
UST landed in the 801-1000 bracket in the life sciences category, posting an overall score of 23.4-29.1, with 38.5 in research quality, 21.6 in industry, 68.2 in international outlook, 7.9 in research environment, and 13.3 in teaching.
This placement was shared with the University of the Philippines (UP), making them the only two Philippine schools to make the ranking in the life sciences category.
THE uses agriculture and forestry, biological sciences, veterinary science, and sport science to assess performance in the life sciences area.
“This is very timely given that we are celebrating our centennial,” College of Science Dean Rey Donne Papa told the Varsitarian. “This recognition is an affirmation that our plans and projects to help maintain the college as a key contributor to research productivity is bearing fruit.”
UST also ranked in the 1001+ bracket in social sciences, scoring 11.4-21.5 overall, with 25.3 in research quality, 21.2 in industry, 42.7 in international outlook, 8.1 in research environment, and 13.0 in teaching.
This places UST behind Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University (DLSU), Mapua University, and UP’s 1001-1000+ placement in the social sciences subject.
THE factored in communication and media studies, politics and international studies, sociology, and geography in ranking universities in the social sciences subject.
Prof. Jeremaiah Opiniano, a researcher at the UST Research Center for Social Sciences and Education, said he was surprised that UST made it in the social sciences category despite having limited research production.
“The social science disciplines and departments may have to do more work to make research second nature…we remain focused on further improving the mission of a university: teaching, research and community service,” he told the Varsitarian.
UST retained its 601-800 placement in the medical and health subjects from the 2025 edition, trailing only UP which ranked 501-600 and extended its seven-year streak as the top Philippine medical school.
UST maintained its 501-600 rank in education studies from its inaugural debut in the 2025 edition, placing behind DLSU and UP, which landed at the 401-500 bracket.
Asst. Prof. Nestor Ong, director for the Office of QS/THE Rankings, said this year’s placements in the World University Rankings validated the academic programs offered by the University.
“The rankings affirm UST’s commitment to excellence in healthcare, education, life sciences, and social sciences, driven by robust teaching environments, research output, and international engagement,” he said.
Ong said UST planned to enter more subject fields by boosting research productivity, faculty development, and interdisciplinary collaborations to meet THE eligibility thresholds.
Despite placing in two new subjects, the University failed to rank in seven of the 11 ranked fields, namely: arts and humanities, business and economics, computer science, engineering, law, physical sciences, and psychology.
“Improvement will come through enhanced research quality, faculty training, student-staff ratios, and industry linkages, building on prior gains like Medical and Health’s climb from 800-1000,” Ong said.
To be ranked in a subject, institutions must publish a substantial number of relevant publications from 2020 to 2024 and meet the specified academic staff threshold. These requirements differ for each subject.
Global rankings
Universities from the United States dominated the rankings, topping eight of the 11 subjects categories.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology led the pack with a first place rank in three subject fields: arts and humanities, business and economics,and social sciences.
Harvard University was first in engineering and life sciences, Stanford University topped education and law, and the California Institute of Technology ranked first in physical sciences.
Schools from the United Kingdom claimed the three remaining subjects: University of Oxford (medical and health, and computer science), and University of Cambridge (psychology).
THE chief global affairs officer Phil Baty said the subject rankings follow the same methodology as the World University Rankings which deploy 18 performance metrics.
“[THE]’s subject rankings deploy the same trusted, gold-standard methodology as the THE World University Rankings to provide the world’s most comprehensive view of universities’ subject strength,” Baty stated.
Malaysia has two top-100 ranked universities and 21 universities up from 12 in the top 200s.
THE World University Rankings by Subject assesses the performance of universities based on five aspects: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry. The weight of these categories differ across the 11 subjects measured, With reports from Micah G. Pascua and Amador Denzel M. Teston
