By INQUIRER BUREAUSPublished: April 1, 2011
MANILA, Philippines—De La Salle University (DLSU) emerged as the Philippines' top university in the latest Asian ranking by Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. (QS).
In QS's 2011 Asian University Ranking, DLSU landed at 56th place this year—an impressive 40 notches higher than last year's ranking. After falling down in the rankings for 2 straight years, the Taft-based institution has made tremendous efforts to boost its standing and overtake last year's top 2 universities, Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) and University of the Philippines (UP) to rank as this year's top university. DLSU placed 106th in last year's QS 2010 World University Rankings list.
Following DLSU is the state-run University of the Philippines (UP). UP maintained its position as the Philippines' number two university behind DLSU, rising to 62nd place from 78th place last year.
The University of Santo Tomas likewise maintained its number three ranking, even as it rose from its 101st place last year to 97th place this year.
The most shocking and unexpected development is the fall of 2010 number one ranked university, Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) in the standings, dropping to 99th place from its previous position at 58th place, becoming the country's number four university in this year's survey.
QS based the university rankings on Asian academic peers (30 percent), papers per faculty (15 percent), citations per paper (15 percent), student-faculty ratio (20 percent), Asian employer review (10 percent), international faculty (2.5 percent), international students (2.5 percent), inbound exchange students (2.5 percent), and outbound exchange students (2.5 percent).
Criticisms
The said rankings was met by criticism by some educational institutions, particularly from former number one-ranked university, ADMU.
“The criteria of these rankings have changed from last year and the school wasn't informed beforehand,” said an ADMU professor, on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak on the matter. “The results are not accurate and valid because essentially, it is like Ateneo was handed a different set of questions.” he explained.
It is not the first time ADMU has voiced criticism over the results of the survey. In 2007, ADMU said the survey rankins are “subject to fluctuations.” Ateneo was at second place behind UP during that year. UP has also criticized the survey before.
