THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) placed third in the 2027 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings and emerged as the country’s leading higher education institution in terms of international outlook.
The University claimed sole possession of third place after landing in the 1601–1800 bracket with an overall score of 24.2–27.1. The result allowed UST to break out of its previous four-way tie with DLSU, Mapua and MSU-IIT in the 1501+ band.
The España University also led Philippine educational institutions in terms of international outlook with a score of 59.4.
UST outperformed all other Philippine universities by a wide margin. Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) ranked second with 37.2, followed by the University of the Philippines (UP) at 36.0, Ateneo de Manila University at 34.5, De La Salle University (DLSU) at 29.6 and Mapua University at 22.9.
However, UST’s international outlook score dropped to 59.5 from the previous edition’s 64.4.
According to THE, the international outlook pillar accounts for 7.5% of an institution’s overall grade. It is divided equally across three indicators, weighted at 2.5% each of the proportion of international students, proportion of international staff and international collaboration.
THE assesses universities across five weighted pillars: research quality (30%), teaching (29.5%), research environment (29%), international outlook (7.5%) and industry (4%).
UST saw notable gains across three other assessment pillars. Its teaching evaluation climbed to 24.6 from 19.8 previously, while the research environment rose to 11.7 from 9.7. The University also posted an increased score in industry to 20.7 from 20.4.
However, UST’s research quality score slipped to 31.6 from 33.6 in the previous year.
Ateneo maintained its standing as the top Philippine university, placing within the 1001–1200 bracket with an overall score of 33.3–36.3. State-run UP remained second after placing in the 1201–1400 bracket with an overall score of 30.5–33.2.
La Salle and Mapua dropped to a tie for fourth place, each landing in the 1801–2000 band with matching overall scores of 20.4–24.1.
Globally, the United Kingdom’s University of Oxford held the top spot for its 11th consecutive year.
The 2027 edition evaluated 2,297 universities across 118 countries and territories. F – Yimrhaq Mariano
