Back on top: VSU climbs national ranking, seizes top spot in EV in 2026 UniRank

Visayas State University climbed to 25th  spot among the higher education institutions (HEIs) in the  Philippines in the 2026 edition of UniRank, a notch higher than the 26th spot reached in the 2025 edition.

VSU also seized first place as the leading academic institution in Eastern Visayas from Eastern Visayas State University, which ranked first last year and now holds second. 

Interestingly, VSU remains as the only university in the region to enter the Top 50 nationwide, proving its excellence goes far beyond the homefront.

Within Region 8, only two universities joined VSU in the Top 100: EVSU at 72nd and Samar State University at 96th.

Over the 235 universities featured by UniRank at the national level, the country’s big universities continue to dominate the rankings. University of the Philippines Diliman is still on top, followed by Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, and the University of the Philippines System.

In addition, VSU’s 2026 performance shone on the global stage, placing 6,242nd out of over 14,000 officially accredited and recognized universities and colleges worldwide. This milestone underlines the expanding digital footprint and rising international reputation of the university. 

VSU President Dr. Prose Ivy G. Yepes welcomed VSU’s performance in the 2026 rankings.

“We are humbled by this recognition and grateful for the trust it reflects. It strengthens our resolve to remain steadfast in our mission, especially in pursuing excellence not for recognition, but for meaningful and lasting impact,” President Yepes said in a statement.

UniRank is an international ranking system that evaluates universities based on their web presence and popularity in terms of estimated traffic, domain, trust, authority, and quality link to popularity.

Currently, UniRank is based upon an algorithm including 4 unbiased and independent web metrics extracted from different web intelligence sources: Majestic Referring Domains, Similarweb Global Rank, Moz Domain Authority, and Majestic Trust Flow. 

The 2026 UniRank results catapults VSU’s continued efforts to strengthen its online presence and expand its reach in the international academic community.

This article is aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Quality Education.

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