THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas regained its ranking in medicine and secured a rank in modern languages for the first time in the latest edition of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject.
In the 2025 edition of the assessment, UST placed within the 701-850 bracket in the medicine subject, making a comeback after losing its spot in the previous year. However, it was the University’s lowest ranking since 2019, when it debuted within the 451-500 band.
For the first time, the España university secured a placement in the modern languages, a subject area covered in the Faculty of Arts and Letters, after ranking within the 301-350 bracket.
Only modern languages and medicine earned a rank out of the 14 UST subjects analyzed by the ranking body.
QS/THE Rankings Deputy Director Asst. Prof. Nestor Ong said the latest ranking of UST in medicine reflects the “increasingly competitive landscape of global rankings.”
“This year, over 5,200 institutions were analyzed, with 1,747 being ranked across various subjects. This heightened competition, coupled with challenges in maintaining a strong reputation, research productivity, and publication output, contributes to the dynamic nature of these rankings,” Ong told The Flame.
“Despite not being ranked in 2024, UST’s inclusion in the Top 900 this year is a significant achievement, demonstrating resilience and progress in the field of Medicine,” he added.
The subjects were assessed based on the following indicators: academic, employer, citations H-index and IRN. In terms of medicine and modern languages, the University attained an overall score of 45.8 and 60.0, respectively.
The London-based education analyst compiled the subject rankings according to five key metrics: Reputation indicators that are based on the responses of 24,000 employers and academics to QS surveys, accompanied by Citations per Paper and H-index, which gauges research impact and productivity.
Meanwhile, cross-border research collaborations were assessed using the International Research Network, a metric for analyzing how well an institution establishes and maintains research collaboration with other institutions.
Five broad faculty areas were assessed by QS, namely arts and humanities, engineering and technology, life sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences and management.
“Our largest-ever subject rankings continue to highlight the evolving landscape of global higher education. While countries that have traditionally dominated the rankings maintain their stronghold, they are increasingly being challenged by emerging higher education markets. This shift is evident in the impressive performances of institutions across Asia and the Middle East,” Ben Sowter, QS senior vice president said.
According to QS, the Philippines had 45 subject entries from four institutions, of which four climbed a spot, four dropped, 22 retained and 15 ranked for the first time.
In the 2024 QS assessment, the University failed to appear in any of the 55 disciplines due to various indicators of performance, namely academic reputation, employer reputation, and the H-index that measures research quality and impact of institutions. F — Rovy Jilyn Fraginal
