By Daniel P. Tapaoan, Jr. 

Achieving another global recognition, Mariano Marcos State University has entered the UI Greenmetric World University Rankings (UIGWUR) 2022, ranking fifth in the Philippines and 356th in the world. 

UIGWUR is a ranking on green campus and environmental sustainability of world universities which is determined by six criteria. It was initiated by the Universitas Indonesia in 2010.

In this year’s world rankings, MMSU earned a total score of 6740. In the six criteria, the university garnered 1005 in setting and infrastructure, 1560 in energy and climate change, 1050 in waste, 350 in water, 1175 in transportation, and 1600 in education and research. Of all Philippine universities, MMSU ranked highest in the energy and climate change criterion. 

University President Shirley C. Agrupis expressed delight about the news, and attributed the new achievement to the whole university community, especially to the committee which took charge in the application. 

“May this recognition inspire us even more to raise the global prominence of our beloved university, and to continue generating novel ideas and innovations toward environmental sustainability,” Dr. Agrupis expressed. 

Dr. Mee Jay Domingo, university’s director for internationalization, linkages and partnerships, said UI Greenmetric collected numeric data from universities which applied to the world rankings. These data are processed into single scores which reflect the efforts being made by the institutions to implement environment-friendly and sustainable programs.

Only 10 Philippine higher education institutions were listed in the Indonesia-based world rankings.  Other Philippine universities that entered the UIGWUR 2022 are the De La Salle University - Dasmarinas (274th), DLSU - Manila (302nd), Tarlac Agricultural University (317th), Batangas State University (351st), Bataan Peninsula University (567th), Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology (650th), Xavier University Ateneo De Cagayan (664th), Ateneo De Davao University (758th), and the Manila Central University (804th).

This year, a total of 1,050 universities across the globe were ranked according to the set criteria. Full results of the rankings were uploaded on the UIGWUR website: https://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/rankings/overall-rankings-2022. 

Earlier, MMSU emerged second in the country and 401st-600th in the whole world in the Times Higher Education (THE) World Impact Rankings. It also prevailed as top 101-200 in the overall rankings of the World Universities with Real Impact, and entered in the WURI’s top 50 universities for three impact categories: 4th in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 36th in industrial application, and 49th in crisis management. 

In the ASEAN Philippine Higher Education Internationalization Awards 2022 organized by Commission on Higher Education, MMSU qualified as finalist in the Global Citizenship Award and the Outstanding Contribution to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award, and reaped the IZN Leadership Award for President Agrupis. (HLY/JVBT, StratCom)