Ateneo, UP top PH universities in 2025 Times Asia ranking

Metro Manila, Philippines - Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the Philippines (UP) emerged as the top Philippine universities in the new edition of a global higher education ranking.

In the report released by the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings on Wednesday, April 23, the Jesuit institution and state university were within the 501-600 bracket among 835 universities from 35 Asian countries.

THE is a United Kingdom-based company that provides data, rankings, and news for the higher education sector globally.

Ateneo dropped from the 401-500 bracket in 2024 while UP kept its place.

China’s Tsinghua University ranked first in the region for the seventh consecutive year. Peking University of China, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, and The University of Tokyo rounded up the top five.

Six Philippine universities made the list this year, including Ateneo and UP. The others are De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas (UST), Mapúa University, and Mindanao State University–Iligan Institute of Technology all in the 601+ bracket.

The report said 15 other higher education institutions from the Philippines submitted data but were unranked as they did not meet the eligibility criteria.

For the rankings, THE considered 18 performance indicators grouped into five areas, namely:

• Teaching (the learning environment)

• Research environment (volume, income and reputation)

Research quality (citation impact, research strength, research excellence and research influence)

International outlook (staff, students and research)

• Industry (income and patents)

Meanwhile, in the 2025 THE World Rankings released in October last year, Ateneo ranked first in the 1001-1200 bracket while UP was in the 1201-1500 group.

La Salle, UST, and Mindanao State University were in the 1501+ bracket among 2,000 institutions from 115 countries and territories.