THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas slipped in its overall ranking, but maintained its spot as the fourth-best school out of five Philippine universities at the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025.
In the latest edition of the assessment, UST dropped to the 1041-1060 bracket globally from last year’s 1001-1050.
“The QS Sustainability Rankings support the higher education sector’s transition to sustainable practices by promoting transparency, impactful research, equality, and climate mitigation,” QS CEO Jessica Turner said in a statement.
“By assessing institutions across Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) categories with a focus on external impact, the rankings catalyze ideas, actions and engagement, fostering positive change in higher education,” she added.
The University of the Philippines (UP) continued to be the country’s top-performing institution in terms of sustainability (333rd), followed by Ateneo de Manila University (503rd) and De La Salle University (911-920). UST outperformed Mapúa University, which landed within the 1141-1160 band.
All ranked Philippine universities maintained their spots nationwide. However, UP and UST secured lower rankings overall.
Institutions were evaluated based on three key metrics: social impact (45%), environmental impact (45%) and governance (10%). Among the three categories, UST secured its highest rank in governance at 670th, although it was lower than last year’s 583rd.
The España-based school achieved a ranking of 1001+ for environmental impact, which comprised three subcategories: environmental sustainability (839th), which was still the University’s highest-ranking sub-indicator despite seeing a drop from the previous year’s 587th; environmental education (986th from 991st); and environmental research (1001+).
The University remained within the 1001+ band in terms of social impact, maintaining the same ranking for its subcategories, namely impact of education, health and well-being, equality and employability and opportunities.
The University of Toronto in Canada remained the top-ranked institution worldwide, followed by ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland. The University of California, Berkeley in the United States and Lund University in Sweden were tied at third place.
Turner pointed out that 62% of prospective students consider sustainability practices “very important,” while 40% actively seek this information when choosing universities.
“This shift highlights how students increasingly evaluate social and environmental impact alongside academic excellence,” the QS CEO said.
Launched in 2022, the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability assesses how institutions address sustainability issues by focusing on their social and environmental impacts and governance practices.
A total of 1,743 institutions across 107 countries and territories were ranked this year. F
