UP is still among the top 500 institutions in the world with the most employable alumni, based on the 2019 QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) Graduate Employability Rankings.
It was included in the 301-500 bracket, with an overall score of 14.7-26.8 out of 100. UP is one of the four Philippine institutions that have been ranked.
But the national university’s performance continues to decline in graduate employability rankings. UP entered the rankings for the first time in 2017 where it was placed in the 201+ group. In 2018, it went down to the 251-300 cluster.
Four indicators are used by QS to compare graduate employability of higher education institutions across the globe: alumni outcomes (30 percent), employer reputation (25 percent), partnerships with employers (25 percent), employer-student connections (10 percent) and graduate employment rate (10 percent).
For 2019, UP obtained its best score in alumni outcomes, coming out 162nd in the world for producing “world-changing graduates.” The indicator covered more than 150 lists of distinguished achievers as well as the mapped records of over 39,000 of the world’s “most innovative, creative, wealthy, entrepreneurial, and/or philanthropic individuals.”
UP ranks and scores by indicator. Source: University of the Philippines Fact File, QS
Employer reputation is measured by a survey that identifies the institutions from which employers source “the most competent, innovative, effective graduates.” Over 40,000 employers responded to the survey for the 2019 rankings. Employer reputation was UP’s strongest indicator in the 2019 World University Rankings, also published by QS.
UP’s performance in employer reputation and academic outcomes. Better scores are shown by universities closer to the top-right area. Source: University of the Philippines Fact File, QS
Data on partnerships with employers were extracted from the Scopus database to identify university-industry collaborations for “citable, transformative research” and from some 200,000 work placement partnerships that were reported by the institutions and validated by QS.
Employer-student connections show the number of distinct employers actively present on campus who are providing students with an opportunity to network and learn, while graduate employment rate measures the proportion of graduates who are employed within 12 months of graduation (excluding graduates who pursue further studies or are unavailable to work).
UP’s ranks by indicator against the best ranks in Southeast Asia. Source: University of the Philippines Fact File, QS
Difference between UP scores and Southeast Asia average scores. Source: University of the Philippines Fact File, QS
A total of 660 universities were evaluated for the 2019 rankings. East Asian universities dominated the top 10 in Asia.
QS stated in the University Fact File that although the methodology “cannot capture all of the complexities involved in attempting to measure graduate employability at a global level,” the rankings nevertheless provide an “innovative insight and rich data set of unprecedented nuance to this critical conversation.”
