Philippine higher education: Beyond rankings, rethinking relevance

On Tuesday, 24 June 2025, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairperson Dr Shirley Agrupis hosted a celebratory dinner for the presidents and rectors of the 121 Philippine Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) that were included in the recently-released Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2025. Fr Roberto Yap SJ led the delegation that represented Ateneo de Manila University at the event and, as President of the highest ranked PHEI in the 2025 Impact Rankings, was asked to speak on behalf of the PHEIs. The following is the full text of Fr Yap’s speech. 

I would like to thank CHED, particularly the Chairperson Dr Agrupis and Attorney Milla¹, for the generous invitation to this evening’s event. We in Ateneo de Manila are very grateful for this opportunity to come together with our peers, to get to know and to engage in conversation with each other, and also perhaps for some of us, to meet the new CHED Chairperson as well. I also wish to thank the CHED personnel who worked to make this evening’s event possible.

Tonight, we celebrate the recently released Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2025, and in particular the remarkable performance of Philippine HEIs in the 2025 rankings. On behalf of the entire Ateneo de Manila community, I extend our most sincere congratulations to all the Philippine HEIs here represented. With its focus on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the THE Impact Rankings serves as an international benchmark of universities’ contributions to the SDGs and highlights the critical role that higher education plays in advancing sustainable development globally. Truly, the Impact Rankings serves as evidence of, perhaps even a testament to, the important and meaningful work being done by Philippine higher education institutions.

There is much to celebrate, and more importantly to be grateful for.

• Batangas State University’s performance in SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation is recognition of the importance and meaning of their Water Consumption and Water Reuse monitoring, as well as their focus on green space management and the use of drought-resistant plants.
• The University of the Philippines was recognized for their system-wide commitment to SDG 3 Good Health and well-being through their sustained work toward social innovations for sexual and reproductive health and rights, provision of mental health financial aid for students, their medical missions to underserved communities, and their continuous effort to address vaccination inequities across the nation.
• For Mapua University, their commitment to waste minimization as well as the cross-cutting integration of sustainable development into all their research work led to their notable performance in SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production.
• For Ateneo de Manila, we are very proud that the work we do across the various units and offices of the University has garnered us an excellent score in SDG 16 Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, a critically important SDG for all of us Filipinos, and placed us at #24 across the world. Of course, we recognize the even more excellent performance of another Philippine HEI in SDG 16: Leyte Normal University, that is ranked at #15 globally for SDG 16.

There really is much for individual HEIs to celebrate. But it must be said too that there is much to celebrate collectively. Of particular note is the Philippines performance in the 2025 rankings. According to various new outlets, with 2,526 universities from 130 countries included in the 2025 rankings, a record-breaking 121 institutions from the Philippines were able to participate in this year’s Impact Rankings, the highest number in Southeast Asia and third globally, trailing only India and Pakistan. For this we recognize the support that CHED has extended to universities, especially the support in the form of opportunities for us to be able to challenge ourselves and to improve in the work that we do. We are very grateful for that invaluable support.

University ranking schemes have proliferated these past few years. THE World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, UNIRANKS, Edu Rank, SC Imago Institutions Rankings, Applied HE, Asia Rankings, Reputation Rankings, Interdisciplinary Science Rankings, and so on…

Ateneo de Manila makes submissions to different ranking programs to benchmark with other universities. But at the Ateneo, we are clear that “rankings do not define us, mission defines us.”

Among all the ranking programs it participates in, Ateneo de Manila has given primary importance to THE Impact Rankings because it is the ranking scheme most aligned with the vision and mission of Ateneo. The vision statement of Ateneo states: “In the spirit of being Lux in Domino, Light in the Lord, Ateneo de Manila University will be a force for good in seeking innovative and sustainable solutions to society’s most pressing challenges.”

The way forward requires universities to reckon with their role in shaping an inclusive society and enhancing social mobility, making meaningful difference to the lives of those in the communities that are their reason for their existence.

As the world confronts myriad challenges - demographic, environmental, geopolitical and technological - universities are uniquely positioned to respond. Will higher education retreat from innovation and transformation - or embrace its role as society's incubator and, in so doing, reinvent itself? Higher education needs to renew its social contract and reassert its role as a vital engine of equity, innovation and civic life.

Universities must be accountable, and responsive, not only to employers, but also to the communities they serve. Governments, too, must see higher education as a public good worthy of investment.

In rethinking the relevance of Philippine higher education, it is crucial for Philippine universities to prioritize how they facilitate social, environmental and economic development. Strong autonomous universities accountable to society are a key component of sustainable development.

Again, congratulations to all the HEIs here present, and we thank CHED for this event. Maraming salamat at magandang gabi sa inyong lahat. Mabuhay!

¹Attorney Lily Frieda Milla, Director of the CHED International Affairs Service