PHILIPPINE UNIVERSITIES underperformed in research productivity and citation impact as they face “structural challenges,” according to London-based higher education ranking body Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
While the number of Philippine universities in the QS World rankings rose from four in 2022 to six in 2026, the country still struggles to scale up research capacity and international visibility, QS said in its report on Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) universities.
“Research productivity and citation impact are weak, internationalisation remains limited, and student–faculty ratios highlight ongoing structural challenges for quality… The challenge now is to turn this into stronger research output and global visibility,” the report read.
In its report titled “How universities are shaping ASEAN’s tomorrow,” QS analyzed the status of higher education across various markers of 10 member states: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
“The QS World University Rankings are not just about prestige, they influence international partnerships, attract talent, and shape how economies are perceived abroad…slower gains in Vietnam and the Philippines highlight the need for deeper structural support,” it added.
In the 2026 QS Asia Rankings, the Philippines struggled to breach the top 500 in the “citations per paper” and “international research network” indicators. Each of the indicator holds a 10% share in the assessment while the “papers per faculty” accounts for 5%.
None of the local participating universities were able to enter the regional top 500 in the citations per paper category. For papers per faculty, only Mapúa University made the cut at 272nd.
Three universities in the country made it to the top 500 for international research network, with the University of the Philippines (UP) being the only institution to reach the top 100 at 93rd.
Most of the ranked local universities slipped in their overall placement compared to the previous year, such as UP (from 86 to 104), De La Salle University (from 163 to 178) and the University of Santo Tomas (from 181 to 184). Ateneo de Manila University was the only institution that improved its ranking (from 142 to 141).
UST falters in research indicators
In the same regional university rankings, UST remained the country’s fourth-best school after improving its overall score to 53.5 from 42.0 the previous year, but it weakened in the research indicators.
The Dominican-run university fell by 461 spots for papers per faculty, 249 notches for citations per paper and 129 for international research network.
Like most Philippine universities, UST also posted a lower rank in the other indicators, namely employer reputation (-11), faculty-student ratio (-380) and staff with PhD (-196).
However, the University topped the local ranking for inbound and outbound student exchange, even clinching 26th in Asia for the latter indicator. It was also among the top 100 in Asia for employer reputation (95th) and international faculty ratio (98th).
High demand for ICT graduates in PH
The ranking body also reported that graduates in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are in high demand in the local and global digital sector.
However, the report said the Philippines has been lagging behind in computer sciences among ASEAN countries, as it had the least-ranked schools in related subjects over the last four years.
In the QS World University Subject Rankings for both 2021 and 2025, only three universities in the country achieved rankings in Computer Science.
For Mathematics, a single Philippine school made the cut in 2021, and only one other institution was able to secure a ranking in the subject four years later.
During the same years, only two Philippine universities secured placements in the subject of Engineering and Technology.
QS’ report suggested that skills from the local labor market cannot keep up with the number of jobs in the booming Philippine digital economy, saying “analysts project 1.1 million new IT and digital jobs by 2028, yet 90% of Filipinos still lack basic ICT literacy.”
Despite this, the number of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduates in the Philippines has remained stable within the 20% to 30% range from 2015 to 2023.
Singapore and Malaysia had the highest shares of STEM graduates after consistently approaching or exceeding 40% of its tertiary graduates.
As for UST, it was only able to rank in medicine and modern languages out of 14 total assessed areas in the 2025 QS World University Rankings by Subject.
The latest edition of the assessment covered five broad subject areas: arts and humanities, engineering and technology, life sciences, natural sciences and social sciences and management.
Founded in 1990, QS is an analyst firm that provides comparative data and rankings on higher education institutions worldwide. Its university rankings seek to enhance the performance of schools by assessing them through different indicators. F
