Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 12) – For the fourth consecutive year, the University of the Philippines (UP) was named by London-based magazine Times Higher Education (THE)-led World University Rankings 2020 as one of the world's top universities.

UP got into the THE's list of top 401 to 500 among the 1,396 universities from 92 countries in the from top 501 to 600 in 2019, the state university said in a post in its official website on Thursday.

UP said it even placed higher than its previous ranks in 2018 where it broke into the top 601 to 800 and in 2017 where it was placed among the top 801 to 1000.

Meanwhile, De La Salle University made it again to the top 801 to 1000 rankings after its debut last year.

THE ranks universities based on 13 factors grouped under: teaching (30 percent), research (30 percent), citations (30 percent), international outlook (7.5 percent) and industry income (2.5 percent).

The university made it to the top 11 percent of universities that have “influence in spreading new knowledge and ideas” after placing 159th in citations.

UP also noted better scores in other performance indicators except for international outlook with its score down from 39.5 to 37.9.

THE used Elsevier’s database of over 23,400 academic journals and indexed publications to measure the school's research influence, UP said.

While indicators teaching and research are based on reputation surveys, it said.

International outlook looks into the number of international students and staff as well as international collaboration, it added.

University of Oxford in the United Kingdom has been named as the leading university in the world for the fourth straight year.