A RECENT survey by OCTA Research picked up by mainstream media indicated that the University of the Philippines (UP), De La Salle University and Ateneo De Manila University were perceived to be the top universities in the country.
But did you know that UST was not among the choices in the nationwide poll?
The survey was conducted from Nov. 10 to 16, 2024 and had 1,200 adult Filipino respondents. A huge majority or 71% of the respondents regarded state-run institution UP as the best school in the country. De La Salle University was a far second placer with 15%, followed by Ateneo with 14%.
While UST is included in the so-called “big four” Philippine universities, it was not among the choices in the poll.
OCTA Research fellow Prof. Guido David said his research team may have opted not to include UST because of its “world-ranking appearance” that he said could still be improved.
“I believe, this is just my opinion, that they used UP, Ateneo and La Salle because those three universities have been factoring in some of the worldwide rankings,” David told The Flame.
“[S]ome kind of PR (public relations) maybe for the University would help. But I think it’s fine as it is. I mean, if we’re just talking of, you know, how to improve it further… maybe a world-ranking appearance would definitely help,” he added.
According to David, a possible factor behind the selection of the universities to be included in the poll was the consistent performance of UP, La Salle and Ateneo as the top national universities in global research and publication metrics.
In global ranking bodies such as Times Higher Education (THE) World Rankings and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, the three schools have consistently outperformed other educational institutions.
From 2018 to 2023, UP also had the highest research output among Philippine institutions, producing 11,571 scholarly works. De La Salle University followed with 4,557, while Mapúa University and Ateneo de Manila University generated 2,476 and 1,963, respectively. UST had the lowest research production among the top five universities, with 1,776 outputs.
READ: UST last among five most research-productive PH schools in scholarly output
In latest editions of global assessments such as QS, UST remained the fourth best Philippine university in 2025, ranking below the three institutions. Meanwhile, the University was tied with La Salle at third place in this year’s THE Rankings, with UP and Ateneo leading the two.
The España-based school also dropped one notch to fifth place in the latest Webometrics, which assesses an institution’s web presence. It was outperformed by UP Diliman, La Salle, the UP System and Ateneo, respectively.
During the start of his second term as UST rector in September last year, Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. emphasized the importance of a “more aggressive” public relations as part of his six-point “Vision 2028” agenda. By promoting the University’s “brand of education” through various social media channels and public engagements, UST’s visibility in the local and international scene would increase, the rector said.
“Indeed, UST is the oldest existing university in Asia, but it is not sufficient and enough to be the oldest existing university in Asia. It should also be the most innovative or one of the most innovative universities in this part of the world,” Ang said.
UST to be included next time?
Unlike other global rankings that use specific metrics like publications and student graduations, David pointed out that the survey simply asked Filipinos for their opinions on which university is the best in the Philippines.
The OCTA Research fellow admitted that the survey is “not very comprehensive” because of the limited number of universities to choose from.
“This survey is really just public perception. So, it’s not a scientific criteria ranking… Other organizations that rank universities worldwide, they use a specific criteria [and] it’s not perception,” he said.
David said the survey could become a more comprehensive study by including more universities.
“Of course, UST is considered the big four… And I would definitely expand the questionnaire to include UST at least,” he said.
While a sample size of 1,200 may seem small, David said it is still statistically valid, citing foreign countries like the United States that conduct similar surveys during elections with smaller sample sizes and a similar margin of error.
Breaking down rankings by specific fields, such as medical sciences, engineering, or pure sciences, would make the poll more influential and informative than a general ranking of the best university, David added.
“[A] big part of student choices would be [the] influence of parents and friends. And discussions such as, you know, surveys and world rankings do influence people as far as selecting universities,” the OCTA Research fellow said.
The poll respondents were randomly selected from Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and socioeconomic classes D and E, with a margin of error of ±3% and a 95% confidence level.
OCTA Research is a polling and research firm established in 2019. It shifted its focus to COVID-19 projections and health crisis insights during the pandemic but now intends to establish itself in public opinion polling. F
