THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas ranked fourth in Asean and first in the Philippines in the new Asean Private University rankings, Singapore-based AppliedHE said.

The ranking rates private universities according to teaching and learning, employability, research, internationalization, community engagement and institutional reputation or brand value.

It involves Asean countries with local accreditation agencies, such as the government-accredited Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation.

UST said it scored high in institutional reputation and performed well in employability and community outreach.

Among the Asean universities rated were Bina Nusantara University in Indonesia and Universiti Tenaga Nasional in Malaysia.

Aside from data submitted by the participating universities, data found on Google Scholar and Google News were also used.

Furthermore, peer nominations by universities also add data to the information being assessed by AppliedHE.