FROM 44 last year, the Philippines saw a notable increase in its representation on the global stage of innovation, with 65 high-education institutions from the country securing positions among the top 300 in the world, according to the WURI rankings.

International rankings are important because they make Philippine HEIs benchmark with HEIs all over the world and identify improvements needed in teaching, research, public service, and the kind of graduates they need to produce. More importantly, it requires them to do this every year as they track their improvement on a year-to-year basis.

“The continuing annual increase in the number of Philippines HEIs that are subjecting themselves to international assessment and ranking is indeed outstanding. The fact that these HEIS are joining the list of the top universities not just in the WURI rankings but also in the other international ranking bodies shows the globalized outlook and competitiveness of our public and private universities,” Commission on Higher Education Chairperson Prospero De Vera III said.

“The collective efforts of Philippine HEIs, assisted by CHED and the national government, are now showing results. Rest assured, we will continue accelerating internationalization, assist university-to-university linkages, and foster partnerships to bring more HEIs in international rankings,” he added.

De Vera said CHED is aggressively assisting Philippine HEI internationalization efforts under the directives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to continue producing world-class professionals while looking for niches where Filipinos can excel like IT, animation, aviation, and game development.

Notably, the Philippines is one of the best performing countries in the rankings with almost 20 percent ranked HEIs out of the 12000 entries worldwide.

WURI is one of three CHED-recognized ranking systems for HEI internationalization. It is a ranking system of the Organizing Committee of the Hanseatic League of Universities.

It evaluates and ranks top universities with real contributions to society, highlighting creative and innovative approaches to research and educational programs.