The Varsitarian

THE UNIVERSITY welcomed the new academic year—and its Quadricentennial—on a high note by securing the 101st spot in the annual listing of Asia’s Top 200 Universities by the London-based Times Higher Education-Quacquarelli-Symonds (THE-QS), UST was tied with Japan’s Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and Thailand’s Prince of Songkla University. Last year, it placed 144th.

De La Salle University trailed behind UST at 106, while no significant changes were seen im the rankings of Ateneo de Manila University and University of the Philippines, which landed 58th and 78th, respectively.

In the field of Social Sciences, the University fell from 75 last year to 83 this year. It also declined in Arts and Humanities, dropping from 55 to 69.

However, UST went notches higher from 85 to 69 in Biomedicine.

But still, the Asian rankings placed UST behind Ateneo in Life Sciences and Biomedicine despite the fact that UST offers more courses, dominates licensure exams, and is the acknowledged pioneer in the field.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Prof. Fortunato Sevilla, member of Malacanang’s Presidential Coordinating Council on Research and Development and former dean of the College of Science, said UST should be thankful that it got into the survey.

“We should be happy about (landing 101st). At least UST has been acknowledged. Imagine how many universities there are in Asia. Last year, UP and Ateneo complained because of their rankings. I think we should view this in a positive light and try to be happy about where we stand now,” he said.

Hong Kong schools got the first two spots: University of Hong Kong,followed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Neighboring countries have more schools in the Top 200 than the Philippines: Taiwan has 17, India 12, Malaysia six, and Indonesia six.

Countries which dominated the Top 20 include Japan with eight schools, South Korea with four, Singapore with two, China with two, and Hong Kong with four.

The criteria were global academic peer review (30 percent), citations per faculty (20 percent), student faculty ratio (20 percent), global employer review (10 percent), international faculty(five percent), international students(five percent).

UST failed to get a slot in Natural Sciences and the Information Technology and Engineering categories.

This year saw Ateneo took the lead on each area among Philippine schools except in Life Sciences and Biomedicine, and Social Sciences. UST dropped behind the three Philippine universities in Social Science and Arts and Humanities with scores of 16.20 percent and 17.90, respectively.

But among the Philippine schools, UST was the most improved overall. This was due to the fact that UST landed in the top 10 in one key criterion, citations per faculty. In fact, it placed eighth in the criterion.

“Our researches are entered in the Scopus,” said Fr. Arthur Dingel,O.P., assistant to the Rector for planning and management. “Scopus is a kind of journal wherein all the scientific researches around the world is entered. If we can get to be published in the journal then that would mean added points for us. But the thing is, this year we did not meet the deadline for the journals. We are still in the process of reapplying. If granted, maybe our rank will go higher.”

In the Recruiter Review category, all Philippine schools showed declines in their ranks. UP ranked 22nd (from 10), Ateneo 25th (from 11), La Salle ranked 29th (from 15) and UST 59th (from 21). According to the Asian University Rankings website, the Recruiter Review is like the Academic Peer Review.

But UST’s Waterloo remains Academic Peer Review.

UST landed 90th. Both UP and Ateneo improved their positions, ranking 23rd and 24th, respectively. La Salle fell from 70 to 72.

“There is such a thing as Academic Peer Review wherein deans and presidents of different universities are given survey forms to answer,” Father Dingle explained. “Their questions mainly revolve on what school pioneered in the field of health related sciences and medicine and nursing. The choice of each person would depend heavily on what school advertises the most. UST is still new in this system.”

In International Faculty and Students, no Philippine university figured.

Other local universities figured in some categories. In the Student to Faculty Category, the University of South Eastern Philippines rose from zero to No. 43.

In the category of Student Exchange Inbound, the University of San Carlos and Ateneo de Manila placed 53rd (from 39) and 48th (from 56), respectively.

“Right now we are trying to pattern the University’s website to suit the qualifications of the THE-QS,” Dingle said. “We do hope that our combined efforts in advertising our University would soon bear fruit.” Monica N. Ladisla