Top 200 Universities in Asia

At this time of the year, it would be the season for school registration and buying books in the Philippines. I have always been excited with the school opening. After a month, the excitement wanes and how I’d wish for vacation once again 😉 Anyway, here’s something that is about universities…
Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. has published their list of the “Top 200 Universities in Asia”. The University of Hong Kong topped the list. In the top 10 are 3 universities in Hong Kong, one in Singapore and South Korea and the rest are in Japan. Four universities in the Philippines made it to the top 200 list, namely Ateneo De Manila University (58), University of the Philippines (78), University of Sto. Tomas (101), and Dela Salle University (106).
Forty-two universities in South Korea are in the top 200 list headed by Seoul National University (6), KAIST (13) and Pohang University of Science and Technology (14). The Catholic University of Korea, which has been giving scholarships to Filipinos in their graduate school program, is ranked 95.
Here’s the full list of the top 200 universities in Asia.

27 comments

  1. at first glance, it will frustrate you why there are only 4 universities in the phils that are included in the top universities to think that many local schools which aren’t included have enormous number of smart students. but the thing is that the ranking is not based on student’s intellect. the criteria are as follows: profs salary, facilities, prof academic background, ratio of professor & students in one class, and so on and so forth. i’m still confident that filipinos are at par with the students around the world. in fact, i’ve had students from Seoul University who admitted to me that UP students are intimidating. that UP students are more analytical and mature than Seoul Univ students. In my online companies where I work with, I’ve had students from the top 3 univ in SK but i doubt their capacity. “ang hina sa analysis” which pisses me off. the reasoning ability is the same level with our elementary students here. just last week, my student who works with samsung and a very proud SNU grad reasoned out to me that “memorizing” is the best learning method. another instance, our topic was about different mediums. my student could hardly think of the advantages and disadvantages of TV, radios, magazines. what surprises me even more is that those who took advanced studies abroad did not improve much. their views are immature. ba’t ganon, they don’t know how to read between the lines? another thing, I was expecting that since they’re from the top univs they are independent but they are otherwise. pag walang instruction ang teacher, they will not do anything. they want you to spoonfeed them, otherwise, they will have a hard time picking up. i can share thousands of stupid stories about my experience with korean students. it’s really frustrating why they have so many opportunities while the smarter pinoys have limited opps.

    1. Im an advocatus diaboli at this one.First of all, i dont believe this university ranking crap. Sadly your analysis and presumptions regarding SNU students and UP students or any group of Filipino students as a whole is obviously raw and unsubstantiated, and in my opinion, its wrong. Its purely tunnel visioning. A problem that afflicts many Filipinos, including majority of those who voted last Election.
      Being a Filipino, i should feel elated from your words, but i dont since you filled your statements with negative tirades and anecdotes. You are like one of the millions here who believes the world revolves around their experiences. You have to be MORE analytical than that, otherwise you are proving your statements wrong.

    2. One of the more common surnames from what I heard in Ivy League campuses here in the states are “Kim”s, which implies that Korean Americans must be doing exceptionally well academically. If you look at the top ten schools from that list, Hong Kong…Singapore…South Korea…and Japan. No wonder those countries are the leading economies of Asia and with higher GDP per capita, so it’s not surprising that they also lead in the education department. Being well off economically must have something to do with exceptional education, don’t you think?
      Instead of being frustrated, bitter, and bitching about how smarter the pinoys are than the koreans, perhaps a more of a constructive approach in giving ideas of how to change the infrastructure for the better so that more Universities from Phils can make that list in future would make you sound more decent.

  2. It’s frustrating to note that we ranked lower than any other countries but it is a good opportunity for us to improve in terms of acquiring knowlwdege.I’m teaching here in Thailand and somehow I was shocked that they ranked in the 1st 20 Top Uni.Somehow I gauged their intellectual capability only in terms of their English compentency.
    Every Flipino must strive to be excellent.Employ critical thinking and read more.We should develop our skills in English and have a more positive outlook in learning

  3. I agree with Pacman. I think the main challenge for the universities in the Philippines is funding. I don’t think there’s a dearth of talent among Filipino professors and students. But they do lack financial resources to fund research. Look at South Korea. There’s certainly a lot of support from the government and private companies when it comes to education. They even give out grants and scholarships to foreign students. So yeah, countries that are well off economically have better quality schools and universities.
    .-= Annp´s last blog ..How to say "Gyllenhaal" =-.

  4. When I was in highschool (an itnernational school), there were dozens of philipino students. Most of the Philipino students did not study hard. Many of them got into trouble, and I had not met anyone whose academic performance was excellent. They lacked motivations and hard working ethics.

  5. sorry to say this – your observation is well-noted although you don’t say which international school you went to. it’s unfortunate though that you haven’t met any “philipino” student whose academic performance was excellent. it is even more unfortunate on your part because with the years and the money you spent in your international school, you never got to learn the correct spelling of how we are called. we are FILIPINOS. that’s basic spelling blunder. you don’t have to be excellent to know that.
    .-= wendy´s last blog ..Mom 101: Baby’s First Solids =-.

  6. But we have to admit that administrators of Universities in Korea are mostly visionaries. They have long term development plans and they aggressively perform reforms and support intensive researches. In the Philippines, lack of facilities, incompetent teachers and too traditional systems plague our schools.
    We have to admit that included in the criteria also were Graduate’s “employablity,” alumni’s position in big organizations such as companies, governments, NGOS’s, etc, and quality of research. I don’t agree that SNU students are poor in analyses. There are more dumb Pinoys than the smart ones. The fact that our country is still struggling to get out of the 3rd world is enough proof. Just look at how we voted last election. And yes, try not to be blinded by false pride. I am Pinoy, but not proud. And I am a realist! GET REAL.
    .-= Jepoi´s last blog ..Dynamic Busan in Brief =-.

  7. By the way, proficiency in English is never a sign of intelligence. Just look at how Japan and Korea maneuvered their ways to become Asian leaders in terms of living standards and how they became 2 of the world’s largest and most important economies.
    What will you do with a people said to be PROFICIENT in ENGLISH kuno… and yet a lot are living below poverty line, millions are living in slums and millions more are polluting their environment.
    .-= Jepoi´s last blog ..Dynamic Busan in Brief =-.

  8. this is such a late comment but still i want to get this across..i am sad..no, horrified that a fellow FIlipino (not a proud one at that!) would say there are more dumb Filipinos. i don’t think “dumb” is the right word..if you really ANALYZE things (w/c seems to be the “word” of this thread),…
    BEING DUMB IS DIFFERENT FROM BEING UNEDUCATED!
    maraming hinde edukado sa Pinas kaya ganun sila mag-isep..if only ma-properly educate sila, they will show how smart they really are.

    1. sorry bout the name typo..baka ma-okray din ako in a not-so-nice way, which is never a way to “debate”

  9. Nationalistic pride has its limits. It irks me to know that so many people are very much preoccupied with that. Its not enough to say you are “proud”, you need to DO something!
    This is not a problem of education as far as literacy rate is concerned. As a matter of fact we have a very high literacy rate at roughly 92%. Which means so many Filipinos are educated. The big problem is the quality of education that most people have, the way they think, their way of life, level of contentment, their upbringing, their exposure to so many factors, their selfishness, their family centered values at the expense of a more holistic approach in contributing to the society as a whole and of course a little of genetics.
    We have so many diploma mills in the Philippines. So many incompetent teachers and poor infrastructure. We don’t pay too much attention on Science and Technology. Everybody wants a job, but not a career. So many people are satisfied with being Call Center agents, English tutors to Koreans, 3D jobs etc. We have so many people in the Philippines contented with their mediocre and not so complicated life. I don’t care if you love spending too much time checking the gossips in Korean and local show business or watching prime time dramas , but for god’s sake be ambitious and add a little sophistication to your lives.

  10. we all know that pinoys are talented, smart & ma-diskarte (good looking if i may say..hehe)…but if we are really that great, then we should’ve made something out of our country or even just with our education system…i do agree! we lack vision..for those of us who understands, lets make it happen…when i first started teaching english to koreans & some other asians, i thought we pinoys were really smart…i felt even these university students from Korea are not as well rounded like us pinoys..but as time goes by, i realized that intelligence & knowledge can be subjective also…actually, i was very impressed with the way they study…malalim ang foundations nila when it comes to education…and we have to understand, we may be good in english but they can chew our hardest math easily…
    we must be proud of what we can do, but at the same time not be too boastful about it..i agree with ate betchay, the world doesn’t evolve around our own experiences..
    hopefully one day our government realizes that funding for students & education is so important…i hope rich kids studying in U.P. will stop getting free scholarship when they can afford to pay for their tuition..shame on you!
    lets keep our minds open…it took me a long time to learn this…

  11. “We have so many diploma mills in the Philippines. So many incompetent teachers and poor infrastructure. We don’t pay too much attention on Science and Technology. Everybody wants a job, but not a career. So many people are satisfied with being Call Center agents, English tutors to Koreans, 3D jobs etc. We have so many people in the Philippines contented with their mediocre and not so complicated life. I don’t care if you love spending too much time checking the gossips in Korean and local show business or watching prime time dramas , but for god’s sake be ambitious and add a little sophistication to your lives.”
    – it hurts but this is true…sad state ng mga pinoys..even i am a guilty of this…but i am doing something about it…forward!..hehe

  12. I am happy to know that the Catholic University of Korea provides scholarships specifically for Filipinos. I don’t know how to make this sound less biased, but I always believe that Filipinos boast both pure intelligence and natural talent. I know there are many Filipinos who deserve to take pleasures from different usual or wacky scholarships. I am also happy to know that four universities in the Philippines made it to the top 200 universities in Asia. It may not be as grand as how South Korea dominated the list, but it is certainly an enormous achievement that every Filipino should be proud of.

  13. Ok, Filipino Universities are sadly not even close to that of Hong Kong, Japan, or Korea. Looking at world rankings of Universities, they perpetually get listed to being that of the top universities alongside American, Canadian, and United Kingdom Universities. It’s desolating to notice Universities in the Philippines don’t even appear in the top 200 in the world. The quality of education in the Philippines should be intensified, admission averages should be raised to ensure only the brightest gets in, rather than having just having met the requirements. Being an American born Filipino studying at UCBerkeley, I feel for my Filipinos struggling to recieve quality education without leaving home! To my dismay, I found out that some Universities in Philippines have professors teaching with only a bachelors degree! They should upgrade teachers, making it a strict requirement to have a PhD in order to teach, or at least a masters, so slowly, their ratings may increase… hopefully!

  14. For me, the best university is an institution which serves its citizens’ best interest. The Philippines shall not aim to beat Harvard, Tokyo or Oxford – we can benefit from diffusion of knowledge anyway…we need not build Nuclear Accelerators or ambitious space researches,,What universities need in the Philippines first and foremost is the provision of basic facilities like excellent dormitories, scholarships, standard quality and well-maintained buildings for the proper teaching of the MOST ESSENTIAL lessons. To provide teachers with competitive salaries in order to provide for their basic necessities.To teach discipline and social awareness and the industrial knowledge to drive the economy. We can send students to Harvard anyway if we would have well-crafted contractual National Scholarship Programs. Remember we need not spend billions on useless and REDUNDANT research laboratories,,–what we need is a wholesome university facilities at the least and those are what we need to improve for now. The rest will follow.

  15. Sometimes I’m wondering where all these Filipino’s common sense go. One university spends millions on useless projects that wouldn’t even contribute a bit to their needs when students are suffering to meet their ends meet. Oh, well, and where would they think their researches go? to prove their university ranking? it is all useless. all useless. research for research’s sake. existence for existence sake.

  16. The Milky way(Philippines) is a nice place to visit at SE Asian not only in beautiful places but for its top rank for the best Universities around the world like the following,New Era University rank no.1 on ABB records ,belong to a group of FIRST organizations and places in the top of power of triangle followed by great Universities ,University of Oxford and Harvard University.Kanazawa Institute of Technology rank no.1 on circle and recorded in ABB records and also belong to FIRST ORGANIZATIONS,and the last topnotch Universities ,OUR LADY OF FATIMA UNIVERSITY rank no.1 on square and recorded in SGS records and belong to group of IMHO(International Medical Health Organizations).

    1. Okay ka lang ba? saan mo nakuha ang impormasyon na yan? baka naman inimbento mo lang yan? may milky way ka pang nalalaman eh ang lawak lawak nun! forum to hindi gaguhan!

  17. carrer, carrer, ang problem in order for you to be employed sa isang kilalang company, eh 1st and foremost kailangan my backer ka sa loob, ke galing ka sa kilalang eskwelahan na nasa top 200, kung wala kang backer di ka makakapasok. based yan sa supervisor ko graduated sa one of the top 4 universities dito sa pinas…

  18. We Filipinos are good in comparing ourselves to others . It isn’t bad if we’ll take it as a challenge to head for the best. But what do we do? We try to look for their Waterloos and criticize them and say we are better than them. We also love to put the blame on others for our sufferings and bad circumstances. Why don’t we look at ourselves and start with what we have and look beyond what our eyes can perceive. We say we are smart people yet we lack common sense. Yearly, we experience floods that lead to the deaths of thousands of Filipinos, but we can’t still grasp the message that it brings. very simple. Learn how to dispose your garbage properly. If we are indeed smart, Let’s prove it to the world not just in words.

    1. I agree with you. I hope we can have the mentality to compare ourselves to others so we could learn from them and be better. The problem is we’re always defensive.

  19. Its funny, if you go to our top universities… say UP, there toilets are horrible, no water, bad smell and with lots of satanic writings all over the wall which accordingly an expression of art. I hate to say this but UP being considered as one of the top university have all these unimaginable things. UP is like home for wierd people who only thinks of their self. They criticise our governemnt because they want bigger funds for them yet they can do nothing to help our country progress.

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