No ranking for UST in its first appearance in Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings

by ALJON DANNIELL EGUIA and PRINCE RONSON SABADO

THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas failed to get a ranking in its first appearance in the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings but obtained a “reporter” status, an expected development given its performance in a counterpart world ranking released previously.

A ‘reporter’ status is given to institutions that submitted data but did not meet the eligibility criteria. UST’s status indicates that it has been an active participant in the rankings process even if it did not secure a rank this year.

The University did not meet the eligibility requirement for publications, the same deficiency that prevented it from getting a ranking in the 2023 World University Rankings released in October 2022.

In an email interview with The Flame, THE said the determining scores from the Asia University Rankings were derived from the scores in the 2023 World University Rankings. This means that some of the updated data were not considered for the 2023 Asia University Rankings.

“A university ranking in the World University Rankings 2023 and meeting the eligibility criteria (namely, the location of the university country in Asia) will therefore be ranked in the Asia University Rankings 2023,” THE said.

“Similarly, an Asian university being a reporter in the WUR (World University Rankings) 2023 will therefore be a reporter in the Asia University Rankings 2023. This is the case for [the] University of Santo Tomas.”

THE said the updated bibliometrics data from 2018 to 2022, the university data provided in March 2023, and the survey years’ data from 2022 and 2023 will be considered in the 2024 Asia University Rankings and 2024 World University Rankings.

Last April, The Flame reported that UST has met the minimum publication threshold set by THE of 150 publications per year and 1,000 publications for the past five years indexed in Elsevier’s scholarly database Scopus last March.

READ MORE: UST meets THE rankings’ publication threshold; Will it finally achieve a ranking?

Four universities secured rankings in the 2023 World University Rankings namely, Ateneo de Manila University (351-400), University of the Philippines (801-1000), De La Salle University (1201-1500), and Mapúa University (1501+). The same universities landed their rankings in the 2023 Asia University Rankings, with Ateneo de Manila (84) ranking first in the country again, followed by University of the Philippines (201-250), De La Salle University (501-600) and Mapúa University (601+).

It was the 11th edition of THE’s Asia University Rankings, the regional counterpart of its flagship World University Rankings, which uses the same performance indicators across the areas of teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook. The Asia University Rankings, however, are recalibrated to reflect the attributes of Asia’s higher education institutions to provide the “most comprehensive and balanced comparisons” available.

A total of 669 Asian universities were ranked this year across 31 countries and regions, up from the 616 universities recorded last year.

THE chief global affairs officer Phil Baty told The Flame that the development in Asia’s higher education institutions shows their “growing influence” on the spread of ideas and knowledge across the globe.

“THE’s Asia University Rankings shines a bright light on higher education in a very diverse continent and shows Asian universities are some of the world’s most innovative and dynamic for research and innovation,” Baty said through a representative.

“This gives rise to real optimism that Asia’s extraordinary rise will continue long into the future,” Baty added. F

Editor’s note: This article has been edited to include the Philippine universities that secured rankings in the 2023 Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings.

Share on Facebook

Retweet on Twitter

Subscribe to email

Save