The University of the Philippines (UP) is the only Philippine university in the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2018.

UP placed 156th in 2018, jumping from the 201st-250th bracket in 2017.

UP is one of the top 3 Asian universities that moved the most in terms of citations of published research works by scholars from different parts of the world, according to UP Vice President for Academic Affairs Cynthia Rose Bautista.

According to Times Higher Education data, UP’s citations score rose from 13.5 in 2017 to 40 in 2018.

Bautista cited information personally shared by representatives of Elsevier to the university a week ago, revealing that papers from UP are cited 14 percent more frequently than the world average. In medicine, they are cited 336 percent more frequently, according to the same source.

“We have not gone to details in terms of areas where we have more influence,” Bautista said. “For now we believe Elsevier when it says our citations are global as opposed to being confined to particular regions only.”

The Times Higher Education Asia University Ranking lists the top 359 universities in Asia. It bases its rankings on 13 performance indicators grouped into the following areas: teaching, research, citations, industry income and international outlook.

The National University of Singapore remains as the top university in Asia, followed by China's Tsinghua University.

Peking University occupies the third spot, followed by University of Hong Kong.

Tied at fifth place are Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong placed 7th, followed by the University of Tokyo (8th).

Two South Korean universities - Seoul National University and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) -also made it to the top 10, placing 9th and 10th, respectively.

Meanwhile, the 2018 World University Rankings is led by two United Kingdom universities, which, according to the THE World University Rankings, is a first.

The University of Oxford landed on the number one spot for the second year in a row, while University of Cambridge is in the number 2 spot, up from last year's number 4.

California Institute of Technology and Stanford University, last year's second and third top university, are now tied in third place, while Massachusetts Institute of Technology remains in fifth spot.