Six Philippine Universities Make It to 2025 THE World Rankings

screenshot BY Times Higher Education

(SPOT.ph)Big day for alumni who are definitely going to brag about this news in batch group chats: Six Philippine universities have made it to the 2025 Times Higher Education (THE) World Rankings.

Ateneo de ManilaUniversity topped the list for the third time in a row, ranking 1001-1200 in a total of 2,092 universities from 115 countries and territories. Joining the Loyola School in this prestigious list are the usual "Big 4" schools—University of the Philippines (UP), De La Salle University (DLSU), and University of Santo Tomas (UST)—are also part of the roster. These rankings remain largely unchanged from the 2024 results.

But that's not all—Mapua University is back for the second time, while Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) has made a notable debut, becoming the first university outside Metro Manila to break into the list.

"We deliberately worked hard to be in the rankings. That’s why there were policy reforms done particularly in incentivizing faculty and students who published in Scopus-indexed journals," Chancellor Alizedney M. Ditucalan said.

This also makes MSU-IIT the youngest local university to be ranked in the global system.

Also read:Arts, Engineering, and Sciences: These Are the PH Universities in the Lead

Philippine universities in the 2025 THE World Rankings

1. Ateneo de Manila: 1001-1200 bracket
2. University of the Philipines: 1201-1500 bracket
3. De La Salle University: 1501+ bracket
4. Mapua University: 1501+ bracket
5. Mindanao State University: 1501+
6. University of Santo Tomas: 1501+ bracket

THE is a UK-based group that ranks "research-intensive universities" across the globe based on teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.

Worldwide, the University of Oxford still tops the 2025 THE World Rankings for the ninth year in a row, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Princeton University in second, third, and fourth place, respectively.

Fifteen local institutions are also placed under "reporter" status, meaning "they are active participants in the rankings process, even though they have not been ranked this year." These include the following:

• Cebu Technological University
• Central Luzon State University
• De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde
• Lyceum-Northwestern University
• Manila Central University
• National University Philippines
• Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology
• Philippine State College of Aeronautics
• Quezon City University
• Saint Louis University (Philippines)
• Tarlac Agricultural University
• University of Eastern Philippines
• University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines
• University of the Immaculate Conception
• Visayas State University

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