Only the University of the Philippines (UP) – the country’s premier state university – made it to the top 100 of the 2021 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Asian University Rankings released on Wednesday, November 25.

UP placed 69th – 3 spots higher than in the 2020 edition – and was among the top 11% of the Asian higher education institutions.

Quacquarelli Symonds is a global higher education think tank.

Released annually since 2009, the QS Asia University Rankings highlights the top universities in Asia each year.

“The methodology used to create the ranking is similar to that used for the QS World University Rankings, but with some additional indicators and adapted weightings,” QS explained on its website.

According to QS, the set of criteria was developed in consultation with regional experts and stakeholders, and was “designed to reflect key priorities for universities in Asia, drawing on as much available data as possible.”

13 other PH universities in top 650

Thirteen other Philippine universities joined the top 650 with Ateneo de Manila University placing 135th, De La Salle University at 166th, and University of Santo Tomas at 186th.

Here are the rest of the Philippine universities included in the list:

• University of San Carlos (451-500)
• Ateneo de Davao University (501-550)
• Mapua University (501-550)
• Siliman University (501-550)
• Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology (551-660)
• Adamson University (600+)
• Central Luzon State University (601+)
• Central Mindanao University (601+)
• Central Philippine University (601+)
• Xavier University (601+)

In a statement on Wednesday night, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero de Vera III commended the inclusion of 14 Philippine universities in the list, saying the “internationalization of Philippine HEIs has been a key strategy of the Duterte administration to improve the quality of education so we can produce world-class graduates.”

But during his public address on November 17, President Rodrigo Duterte himself threatened to defund UP for supposedly “recruiting communists.” (READ: Why Duterte can’t defund UP)

Of the 14 universities, 7 were included in the QS 2020 ranking. The 7 additions were: Ateneo De Davao University, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, Adamson University, Central Luzon State University, Central Mindanao University, Central Philippine University and Xavier University.

Meanwhile, here are the top 10 universities in Asia:

1. University of Singapore (Singapore)
2. Tsinghua University (China)
3. Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
4. The University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
5. Zhejhang University (China)
6. Fudan University (China)
7. Peking University (China)
8. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong)
9. Universiti of Malaya (Malaysia)
10. Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China)

The 2021 list features over 650 universities from 18 countries in Asia and adopts a methodology that consists of 11 indicators:

• Academic reputation (30%)
• Employer reputation (20%)
• Faculty-student ratio (10%)
• International research network (10%)
• Citations per paper (10%)
• Papers per faculty (5%)
• Staff with a PhD (5%)
• International faculty (2.5%)
• International students (2.5%)
• Inbound exchange students (2.5%)
• Outbound exchange students (2.5%)

– Rappler.com