DESPITE PHILIPPINE universities’ improved global competence, most foreign scholars still prefer other countries when pursuing their studies, the 2024 Times Higher Education (THE) list of the world’s most international schools suggested.
No Philippine school made it to THE’s latest rankings measuring global institutions’ collaboration with students and educators across international borders. Only universities in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Malaysia, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India and Israel were ranked in Asia.
Universities were assessed largely based on their performance in the “international outlook” pillar of the 2024 THE World University Rankings, where four Philippine institutions, including the newly-ranked University of Santo Tomas, obtained rankings.
READ: ‘Reporter’ no more: UST obtains rank in THE World University Rankings for the first time
The international outlook pillar, which THE describes as “a mark of a top institution,” covers a university’s proportion of international students (25%), proportion of international staff (25%) and international co-authorship (25%).
Among Philippine schools in the latest World University Rankings, UST obtained the best international outlook at 67, the country’s highest score in the metric. Such a rating was “well above the world median,” THE chief global affairs officer Phil Baty told The Flame in a previous interview.
An improved international outlook was also seen in University of the Philippines (from 34.6 to 38.4), Ateneo de Manila University (from 31.8 to 33.5) and De La Salle University (from 25.6 to 29.3).
But none of the four Philippine schools were included in this year’s list of most international universities in the world.
Aside from the international outlook pillar, THE said universities must receive at least 300 votes in the survey and at least 10% of available domestic votes to be included in the rankings.
International reputation (25%) was also added to measure a university’s international votes in the THE’s yearly invitation-only academic reputation survey, where top scholars name the world’s finest institutions for teaching and research in their field. THE has not yet published the data of the ranked universities in the metric as of writing.
The City University of Hong Kong, which scored 98.7 in the international outlook, topped this year’s rankings after previously placing fourth. The Abu Dhabi University made its debut in second place with an international outlook score of 97.8, followed by the University of Oxford (97.5), which placed eighth in the previous assessment.
A total of 203 global institutions secured rankings in the assessment, including those in Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Spain and Czech Republic. F — Ma. Alyanna Selda
