(SunStar) THERE is an apparent reason to be happy that four Philippine universities have made it to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Ateneo de Manila University landed 351-400, the University of the Philippines 801-1000, De La Salle University 1201-1500, and Mapua University 1501+.

I would like to parenthetically remark that this sort of honor bestowed on our universities should not be taken as a definitive conclusion that implies that other schools are not good. In the end, I always believe that whether here or abroad no school or university has the monopoly on academic excellence.

While some are proud that their university has made it to the higher realm of global academic indexing, the sad reality is some if not many universities and schools in the Philippines have remained “self-referential” in their claims to quality education. I have remarked several times elsewhere that it is ironic that in our country almost all schools claim to offer quality education. But it seems that our “global competitiveness” is known only within our echo chambers.