THE ATENEO retained its 501 to 550 position in the 13th edition of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings that were released on September 6.
According to its official website, QS World University Rankings “are designed to help prospective students make informed comparisons of leading universities around the world.” The rankings also assess the performance of the universities in the areas of research, teaching, employability, and internationalization.
In evaluating performance, the QS World University Rankings use six performance indicators: Academic reputation holding 40%, employer reputation with 10%, student-to-faculty ratio and citations per faculty each with 20% and international faculty ratio and international student ratio with 5% each.
For academic reputation, employer reputation, and student-to-faculty ratio, the Ateneo scored 30.4, 45.2, and 33 respectively. Details on the international faculty ratio and international student ratio are not available.
The Ateneo ranked 451 to 500 in 2012, 501 to 550 in 2013, and 461 to 470 in 2014. In 2015, the Ateneo dropped again to 501 to 550.
‘Low’ research dev’t
The QS World University Rankings also characterized the research intensity of Ateneo as “low”. This is based on the number of papers produced or outputs relative to the size of the institution.
Vice President for the Loyola Schools Maria Luz Vilches, PhD, said that research, outreach, and internationalization will be main thrusts of her term during the Faculty Day on August 17.
Vilches noted that there has been an increasing trend in research based on the incentives, publications, infrastructure development, and awards received by the Loyola Schools faculty. With the data from the office of Environmental Science Associate Professor Emilyn Espiritu, PhD, Vilches will be presenting a research roadmap to the President’s Council.
“[Dr. Espiritu] looked at interdisciplinary research programs, industry, academe, research partnerships. What’s important is that there’s an increase in funding allocation for research and scholarly work to include manuscript writers, admin assistants, and technical staff,” Vilches said.
Top universities
Moreover, three other Philippine universities made it to the list: University of the Philippines (UP), De La Salle University (DLSU), and University of Sto. Tomas (UST).
UP rose to the 374th spot this year from its 401 to 410 position in 2015. DLSU and UST, ranked 701+ in 2015, also maintained their spots this year.
The Ateneo de Manila University does not publish scientific, technical papers in journals and
periodicals unlike my other two alma maters, namely the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado,
USA and the University of Toronto, Toronto Canada. These two universities are well funded by
research funding and staffed with PhD’s and MD’s.
These facts should not bring the reputation of Ateneo de Manila University down as an institution.
The resources available in different countries are different.