The University of the Philippines (UP) is among the world’s top 200 universities for achieving a top rank in 4 core academic subjects, according to the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) University Rankings by Subject released on Wednesday, March 3.

The 2021 QS University Rankings by Subject placed UP in the 101-150 band for Politics & International Studies, and the 151-200 band for English Language and Literature, Agriculture & Forestry, and Geography.

In total, UP is featured in 15 of QS’s 51 subject rankings. The other subjects are as follows:

• Linguistics (251-300 band)
• Modern Languages (251-300 band)
• Law (251-300 band)
• Sociology (251-300 band)
• Medicine (301-350 band)
• Environmental Sciences (301-350 band)
• Business & Management Studies (351-400 band)
• Economics & Econometrics (351-400 band)
• Computer Science & Information Systems (551-600 band)
• Biological Sciences (551-600 band)

“However, despite these examples of excellence, none of the University of the Philippines’ 15 ranked programs have improved their global rank this year,” QS said.

It added that that UP’s Archaeology program was out of the top 200 this year, dropping to the 201-220 band from 151-200 in 2020. Five other programs dropped a band year-on-year.

Three other Philippine universities are also included in this year’s subject rankings:

• Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU)
  • English Language & Literature (201-250)
  • Modern Languages (251-300 band)
  • Sociology (301-320 band)
  • Business & Management Studies (451-500)
• De La Salle University (DLSU)
  • English Language & Literature (201-250)
  • Linguistics (201-250)
  • Business & Management Studies (301-350)
  • Economics & Econometrics (451-500)
• University of Santo Tomas (UST)
  • Medicine (601-605 band)

Overall, UP is in the 396th spot, ADMU is in the 601-650 bracket, while DLSU and UST are in the 801-1000 bracket.

British universities dominated the rankings, with University of Cambridge (41 programs), University of Oxford (40 programs), University College London (37 programs), University of Edinburgh (32 programs), and The University of Manchester (26 programs).

In Asia, Singapore’s two best universities, Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore, achieved world top ranks for Materials Science and Petroleum Engineering, respectively.

The rankings provide “independent comparative analysis on the performance of  13,883 individual university programs, taken by students at 1440 universities which can be found in 85 locations across the world, across 51 academic disciplines and 5 broad Faculty Areas,” the QS said.

QS is a British company that provides research on the world’s top universities to “ensure candidates have access to the best tools and the best independent expert information before making a decision.” – Rappler.com