The University of Santo Tomas slipped to second-best among 29 Philippine private universities after placing first for two consecutive years in the AppliedHE Private University Ranking: ASEAN 2025.
In the latest edition of the assessment, UST broke its two-year streak as the best private institution among Philippine schools after dropping a notch although its regional ranking improved to 11th from 16th last year.
The Espana-based school also yielded a higher score of 71.36 from 65.17 previously.
Ateneo de Manila University emerged as the top private institution in the country with an overall score of 71.39. De La Salle University (69.27) ranked third, followed by Saint Louis University (65.96); Southville International School and Colleges (65.38); and Adamson University (64.21).
A total of 11 private nationwide schools made it to the rankings for the first time, including Southville International School and Colleges, University of Saint Louis, Far Eastern University, University of the East and Lyceum of the Philippines University Davao.
The Philippine private schools that landed on the bottom four are the University of the Visayas (42.48); La Consolacion University (44.96); Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas (52.93); and University of the Immaculate Conception (55.24).
The institutions were ranked according to their teaching and learning (40%); employability (15%); research (15%); community engagement (10%); internationalization (10%); and institutional reputation (10%).
Malaysia’s Sunway University remained the best private institution in the ASEAN region, scoring 80.64 in the assessment. It was followed by Bina Nusantara University of Indonesia (78.32); Krirk University of Thailand (75.75); Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (73.6) and Taylor’s University (73.37), both in Malaysia.
AppliedHE saw 100 participating private institutions across ASEAN countries this year, higher than the 80 universities in the previous assessment.
Launched in 2022, AppliedHE Private University Rankings is the first ranking system that measures private universities’ performance according to the given criteria. The annual report aims to set an independent benchmark to compare participating universities within the ASEAN region. F
