THE University of the Philippines, despite its meager resources, has outranked some of the world’s top universities — including Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard — in a global index in terms of its clinical, pre-clinical and health research citations.
The piece of good news comes from Senator Pia S. Cayetano, who congratulated UP for the high scores it obtained in the latest World University Rankings.
She noted that Philippine universities have lagged behind in the area of research for the past decades, but UP is finally putting the country on the map of top universities of the world.
“Most of us may not be aware of it, but UP now ranks among the world’s top universities in terms of citations for clinical, pre-clinical, and health subjects,” Cayetano said after Monday’s Senate Committee on Finance hearing on the proposed 2021 budget for the UP system, State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). She is vice chairman of the committee, which oversees the budget for health and education.
“This is great news coming at a time when the country is realizing how investments in research are crucial to addressing public health emergencies like Covid-19. Despite UP being cited, our overall research capability as a country remains low,” added Cayetano.
In the 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE-WUR), UP’s citation score for its clinical, pre-clinical, and health research (91.9 percent) ranked higher than some of the world’s top universities, including University of Oxford (74 percent), University of Cambridge (68.8 percent), and Harvard University (66.7 percent).
Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge were the first three ranked highest overall in the world.
“UP’s high score is an indicator of the impact and influence of its research, which researchers from other countries have cited for succeeding studies and possible innovations,” the senator explained.
Cayetano said “strategic investments in public health research and innovation would allow the country to catch up with some of our neighbors in Southeast Asia which have been able to handle Covid-19 more efficiently using advanced science and technology.”
“We act surprised that our neighbors, like Thailand and Vietnam, are already developing a vaccine, when in fact, we have not been investing in research laboratories for decades,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, funding for the research budget of the 111 other SUCs in the country is very low, she pointed out, compared to the research expenditures of some of the Philippines’ Asean neighbors.
“Sadly, the budget for research for all the SUCs that Senator Joel Villanueva proposed and that we supported in the 2020 budget, was one of the items that was realigned for Covid response. The same happened to the research budget for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and futures thinking,” noted Cayetano, who chairs the Senate Committee on SDGs, Innovation, and Futures Thinking.
The president of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (Pasuc), Dr. Tirso Ronquillo, reported to the committee that government funding for SUCs’ research and technical advisory extension programs represent just 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively, of the P64.7-billion proposed SUCs budget this year.
Overall, the country’s budget for research and development only represents 0.16 percent of our GDP, in contrast to Singapore’s 1.94 percent, Malaysia’s 1.44 percent, Thailand’s 1 percent, and Vietnam’s 0.53 percent, Dr. Ronquillo noted.
“Our finance committee chairman, Sen. Sonny Angara understands and supports the need for funding in research. We will work together to ensure we have a strong budget for research for 2021. We already have the foundation and potential. We just need to translate these into concrete programs to better serve the needs of Filipinos,” Cayetano said.
Image credits: Ed Davad
21 comments
This self-applause should be considered in view of the amount of auto-citations from researchers. Who quotes UP research ? It it is UP researchers themselves, the ranking has little value. if it is other researchers around the world referring to UP research, then the kudos are deserved. Did the honorable senator look a little in depth at the truth behind the numbers ? I wish she is right, but it may be too superficial an analysis from her.
Crab mentality at its finest. Kudos
This guy doesn’t seem to understand what is he talking about research and ranking. He even had the guts to demean UP and insult Sen. Cayetano.
He does not deserve to be replied to, and be dignified in his ignorance. He does not talk and think sense at all.
Before you engage in a high level discussion, know more. No limit. Ok?
“He even had the guts to demean UP and insult Sen. Cayetano.”
But Cayetano is dishonest, boot-licking scum. Insults are okay.
Then why did you reply to him ?! 🙂 HAHA 😂 LOLS 😝
It’s WUR. And it’s about number of citations culled from a learning institution as compared with others.
I hope that is clear.
The only reason this has occurred is because Oxford (for example) has dedicated 2020 to refunnelling funds, resources and research efforts into covid vaccine research. To somehow suggest and use the current situation to think UP is anywhere near the quality of research institute as Oxford is pathetic. I find it deeply disrespectful to my colleagues. Furthermore, it’s never about the number of citations. Its about the actual research. When scientists start winning nobel prizes for the sciences from UP then perhaps we will begin to take note.
Disrespectful to your colleagues?!!! Get off of your high horse, Paulo! UP is the top university in the Philippines and to say that its research is nowhere near the quality of those being done in top universities is more insulting and disrespectful to say! You are missing the point that, despite UP’s meager resources being in a third world country with its already insufficient annual budget allocation being shared among many state universities, it is still thriving and doing its best to produce quality research. Just because you are in Oxford or maybe Cambridge doesn’t mean your neurons are far more superior to UP’s researchers. You are not floating an inch over the ground, Paulo. Bear that in mind. And using Nobel Prize as a standard? Didn’t Donald Trump get 3 Nobel nominations recently? ‘Nuff said.
But Donald Trump will never win the Nobel PEACE ✌️ Prize because he is the Number 1 trouble maker in America 🇺🇸 !!! 🙂 ❤️🇵🇭🙏🏽
maybe in the world Noel.
Mr. PauLow, that is an opinion based on your own uninformed biases. You are not an authority better than the Ranking Entity named the THE based in UK.
If you want to use your biases as your standard, fine. But, you can not force your senselessness to those who know more and better. I doubt if you cam even produce a simple research based on your thinking. Obviously, you do not even understand what you are commenting on. Know more. No limit.
I’m rather proud of one of my alma maters.
It does show innovation and resourcefulness.
Be proud. The University of the Philippines is a beacon f ou r the future.
Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard love them. UP researches great! How about creating more institutions like UP, good news the 111 SUCs are more than willing, ready for the challenge to be at that level. Imagine UP and the SUCs all succeeding in their respective research fields or specialization. A short-cut to being a highly developed and progressive Philippines.
UP got the highest ranking because they followed the black agenda of cabal globalist and WHO. UP is the puppet of evil. Don’t fool the awaken who aware to this plandemic
Baka dapat the “awakened”… Tsaka dapat May “are” before the aware. Ano yung “plandemic”?
Wow! We are number 1 in citation score! Now I can brag about this to people in Harvard and Oxford, and even to those in Ateneo and UST. We are number one! IN CITATION SCORE! Hahaha. In my mind, it doesn’t prove anything at all. This doesn’t make UP a number one institution overall in Asia even. Let’s face it. We have a long way to go. I’d be prouder of individual achievements related to sciences than this. But oh well. It’s “nice”.
The comment im looking for😂😂😂
This is not about the numbers. This is being thankful that our researches contribute to the knowledge the world needs in facing the current challenges. This should inspire us to do more researches that are useful and strenthen the culture of research in our institutions.
First and foremost, please do a fact check. Journalism 101. There is no such category as preclinical and clinical research in THE ranking. Moreover, if you actually check the THE site for citations ranking you will see that UP only has 86.9 citation score. Secondly, it’s good to be proud of UP but for the right reason and accurate data.
Additionally, UP was never in the top 150. These data are either erroneous or maliciously doctored, and to what purpose really? What’s going on with Filipino journalists? They can’t even fact check and report accurate facts. Sigh.
The research should be looked into by DOH and FDA. We should not rely WHO and pharma companies. Kaya natin with the support of government.