Southern Leyte State U secures 3 QS Stars rating
In the pursuit to full the potentials of the university and become a globally competitive institution, Southern Leyte State University earned an institutional rating of three (3) stars from Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Star Rating.
The recognition was formally announced by the former University President Dr. Prose Ivy G. Yepes during her 8th and last State of the University Address (SOUA): The Legacy on, December 17, 2022, one day before she stepped down as the steward of the University.
QS is London-based ranking system and is the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insight to the global higher education sector, whose mission is to enable motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfill their potential through educational achievement, international mobility, and career development, its website says.
As a 3-star university, the QS affirms that Southern Leyte State U is nationally well-recognized, has begun to attract international recognition, maintains a reputable level of research and its graduates are attractive to employers.
During her last SOUA, Dr. Yepes said that this biggest win yet for Southern Leyte State U makes the university at par with other prestigious university in the country and beyond.
Southern Leyte State U was evaluated according to Core Criteria (Teaching, Employability, Internationalization, and Research/Academic Development), Learning Environment (Facilities), Specialist Criteria (Subject Ranking/Program Strength), and Advanced Criteria (choosing two from Arts & Culture, Innovation, Social Responsibility, and Inclusiveness.)
Among the eight (8) criteria which were evaluated by QS, Southern Leyte State U obtained an impressive five (5) stars in both Teaching and Inclusiveness, four (4) stars in Social Responsibility, Facilities, and Academic Development, and 3 stars in Employability.
The five-star rating on Teaching indicates that Southern Leyte State U has an overall student satisfaction that is high and faculty members with doctorate degrees (PhD) is more than satisfactory.
On Inclusiveness, on the other hand, means that Southern Leyte State U adapts and modifies its processes to make higher education accessible to all students to support marginalized group of students, including gender equality, inclusion of disabled students and students from lower income groups.
Southern Leyte State U garnered a total of 569 points out of 1,000 in which the university is eligible for a 4-star rating considering that such rating needs to only have a minimum of 550 points.
The 4-star classification must be attained under the condition that at least 1% of the total student population are international students, and 75% academic referees or 2 citations for faculty members with scopus indexed journals.
However, the 3-star rating already shows that Southern Leyte State U manifests “potential in achieving international education standards and undertake complex research activities, experimenting with pedagogical teaching.”
Dr. Lilibeth S. Tindugan, Director for External Linkages and International Affairs, said that the whole academic community takes pride in this remarkable achievement of the university as Southern Leyte State U has become a more competitive institution and is now at par with the best state universities and colleges in the region and beyond.
Southern Leyte State U underwent the QS audit process starting October this year under the Commission on Higher Education’s “Fostering World-Class Universities” project (2nd batch), which subsidized the QS payment for the state universities included in the project.
QS Stars awards universities with a rating of between one and five plus stars, depending on their performance in at least seven categories. The QS Stars badges improve a university's international recognition and institutional reputation and profile by emphasizing its strengths and fields of expertise.