Eastern Visayas Media Without Borders
EVMWB
Tacloban City–Visayas State University (VSU) has maintained its position among the country’s leading higher education institutions, placing 13th in the Philippines in the January 2026 edition of the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.
VSU landed 2,632nd out of more than 30,000 higher education institutions around the world, making a substantial rise from its 4,534th placement in the January 2025 edition. It remains the top-performing higher education institution in Eastern Visayas, proving its reputation as a research and innovation hub in the region.
Webometrics, developed by Webometrics.org, is a global university ranking system that measures the online visibility and academic performance of higher education institutions. This ranking includes their digital presence, academic influence, openness, and global visibility.
As a basis for the ranking, the ranking evaluates the institution based on Impact (visibility at 50%), Openness (top-cited researchers at 10%), and Excellence (top publications at 40%).
For the January 2026 edition, VSU ranked 7,160th in Impact, 4,563rd in Openness, and 5,066th in Excellence. These results demonstrate that the university remains a knowledge-generating institution with regional and global significance.
However, the university experienced a slight dip this edition, from 11th spot in the January 2025 edition to 13th this January 2026. The adjustment was mainly caused by the inclusion of more University of the Philippines campuses and the National University of the Philippines, both of which overtook VSU’s placement.
Despite this minor adjustment, VSU has consistently maintained its long-standing placement within the Top 10 to 15 circles in the country for the past several years.
VSU President Dr. Prose Ivy G. Yepes expressed optimism about the results and noted that the university has continuously intensified its efforts to boost research and online presence.
“VSU is conducting various seminars and workshops for the faculty members and researchers to push for more Scopus-indexed publications. These efforts not only improve our ranking but also ensure that our institutional knowledge becomes more accessible through open platforms,” President Yepes said.
Former University Integrated Media and Public Affairs (UIMPA) Director Mr. Mike Laurence V. Lumen emphasized the work that needs to be done to put VSU back among the Top 10 in the country.
“Returning to the Top 10 will require more deliberate work across research production, visibility, and how the University presents itself online. This means increasing quality publications, strengthening research communication, and making VSU’s outputs easier to access and recognize globally”, Mr. Lumen added.
In Region 8, VSU is the only university that made it within the Top 3,000 worldwide. Meanwhile, other SUCs in the region that made it to the Top 100 nationally are the Samar State University and Eastern Visayas State University, which ranks 61st and 91st, respectively.
The January 2026 edition of Webometrics evaluated over 30,000 universities worldwide, with more than 360 higher education institutions in the country making the list.
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