THE VISAYAS State University is now at 17th place in the Webometrics ranking of Philippine universities.

The latest ranking released last January is the highest to date for the school, which was at 18th spot three years ago before sliding one notch lower last year during the July ranking.

Webometrics is considered the largest academic ranking of Higher Education Institutions with analysis of performance even at the country level. In its 18th year of publication, the ranking system includes more than 31,000 universities and colleges worldwide.

With its current standing, VSU is the lone university in Eastern Visayas to enter the top 50 list.

However, Samar State University, Eastern Visayas State University, and Leyte Normal University made it to the top 100 cut for this edition.

Among the 297 institutions evaluated in the country, the University of the Philippines system topped the Philippine web rankings, followed by the University of the Philippines Diliman, and Ateneo de Manila University.

VSU President Edgardo E. Tulin expressed his delight in the improved rankings of VSU in the web rankings of universities and colleges in the country.

“It’s clear that with many ranking systems that are being introduced now, the most important indicator has always been on research productivity in terms of the number of published articles and how many times they are cited,” Tulin said.

“I hope that our researchers here in VSU are taking note of this trend so that we can be consistent with our standing as one of the very few research universities in the country.”