MANILA (UPDATE) — The Ateneo de Manila University emerged as the top Philippine school in the latest global rankings published Wednesday by a British higher education magazine, dethroning the University of the Philippines (UP).

The 2023 World University Rankings by Times Higher Education (THE) showed the Jesuit-run Ateneo rise to the 351-500 bracket from being excluded in the previous rankings.

This is the highest ranking received by a Philippine university in THE's world university rankings, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said in a statement.

State-run UP, the top Philippine school in past years, came in second, dropping to the 801-1000 bracket from the 601-800 grouping.

De La Salle University maintained its spot in the 1201-1500 bracket while Mapua University entered the list at the 1501+ bracket.

• UP, La Salle drop in world university rankings

Cebu Technological University, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, University of Santo Tomas, University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, Tarlac Agriculture University and Visayas State University were listed with "reporter" status, meaning they provided data to be included in the rankings but did not meet the eligibility criteria.

CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera said the growing number of Philippine higher education institutions in the rankings "shows that our universities continuously benchmark themselves with the best universities in the world and are improving their programs, faculty and facilities to produce graduates that are globally competitive and industry-matched."

The University of Oxford in the United Kingdom topped the world rankings while China's Tsinghua University was the top Asian university. The National University of Singapore led the Southeast Asian schools in the list.

The latest world university rankings include 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions, "making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date," said THE.

THE assessed the schools based on 13 performance indicators across four areas, namely teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

De Vera previously explained that university rankings help schools enhance their reputation.

"If you say 'I am at par with the best universities abroad, of course, more students will be interested to enroll," he told ABS-CBN News in an earlier interview.

• CHED: World rankings improve universities' reputation