THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas remained the country’s second-best institution in medicine, but lost its rank in modern languages in the 2026 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject.
In the latest edition of the assessment, UST failed to sustain its placement in modern languages, after making its debut in the 301-350 range last year.
However, the España university remained in the global 701-850 bracket for medicine, which it reclaimed the previous year after losing its spot in the 2024 edition.
The University of the Philippines emerged as the top school in the subject area of medicine and was the only other local institution to secure a ranking in the subject.
According to QS, of the thirty-nine programs from six Philippine institutions included in this year’s assessment, six improved, five slipped and 19 maintained their standings.
The ranking evaluates universities across five faculty areas, namely arts and humanities, engineering and technology, life sciences and medicine, natural sciences and social sciences and management.
QS senior vice president Ben Sowter said the 2026 rankings show that higher education across the world is becoming both “more competitive and more specialised,” noting that “strategic investment” in specific disciplines is crucial for international recognition.
“While traditional leaders in the US, UK and parts of Europe continue to dominate many disciplines, we are seeing significant momentum from systems across Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. Institutions are increasingly building global reputations through targeted subject excellence, research collaboration and industry engagement,” Sowter added.
The latest assessment compared over 18,300 university programs across 55 disciplines, covering more than 1,900 universities in 100 locations worldwide.
Programs of universities from the United States dominate the list, with Harvard ranking first in 14 subjects, followed by MIT with 11. The country also had 271 subject entries in the global top 10.
QS uses five metrics for its subject rankings: reputation indicators based on employers and academics surveys; citations per paper and H-index measure, which focus on research impact and productivity; and cross-border research collaborations.
Established in 2004, the QS World University Rankings is an annual report that evaluates the performance of universities around the globe. F
