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University

Philippines

Taught in English, priced in thousands, and it travels in two professions.

5/5
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Tuition
~$1–5k/yr
Living
36.2% of US prices
A comparison of prices, not a budget: it says what things cost here against the United States, not what a month will cost you. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Education
Travels in two professions
Research impact 19th percentile globally — median of 5 ranked universities (CWTS Leiden Open Edition 2025). Research output, not teaching quality; it informs the band, it does not set the score.
Work after study
No post-study route, and the labour market is tested
Safety
2.092 · 102nd of 163
Low on the index; the score is driven by long-running internal conflict and by crime rates rather than by conditions in the expatriate districts

More is being checked.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Tuition~$1–5k/yr

Individual published figures: the University of the Philippines Diliman is reported at from about US$1,000 a year for foreign students, with the large private universities in Manila charging several times that. Tier 3 because the university fee tables could not be read directly. Re-read attempted and not finished: Ateneo de Manila's and the University of Santo Tomas's own tuition pages both refuse automated requests, and every figure in circulation comes from Philippine fee-guide sites rather than from a university.

Confidence
printed in the source
Living36.2% of US prices

World Bank, 2024, CC BY 4.0: the PPP conversion factor for household consumption is 20.7435 local currency units per international dollar, against an official exchange rate of 57.2907 to the US dollar. Their ratio, 0.362, is the price level against the United States, whose own ratio is 1 by construction. Both figures are theirs; the division is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

A comparison of prices, not a budget: it says what things cost here against the United States, not what a month will cost you. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
EducationTravels in two professions

Pathoff education rubric (the Pathoff method, section 9-1), degree band "Recognised within a bloc": Teaching is in English and the nursing and maritime qualifications are accepted for licensure and employment worldwide after examination, which is a real professional-recognition signal. At the foot of the band because outside those fields a Philippine degree needs a credential assessment.

Research impact 19th percentile globally — median of 5 ranked universities (CWTS Leiden Open Edition 2025). Research output, not teaching quality; it informs the band, it does not set the score.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Work after studyNo post-study route, and the labour market is tested

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-2), degree outcome band "A route that needs an employer": Graduation confers no period to stay and look for work. Employment requires an employer to obtain an alien employment permit, which tests whether a Filipino could do the job. Low in the band for the absence of any grace period.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09
Safety2.092 · 102nd of 163

Global Peace Index 2026, Institute for Economics and Peace: score 2.092, ranked 102 of 163. Both figures are theirs; we publish them as they are.

Low on the index; the score is driven by long-running internal conflict and by crime rates rather than by conditions in the expatriate districts

Confidence
printed in the source

What it is like here

Philippine universities teach in English at a few thousand dollars a year, and in nursing and maritime training the qualification genuinely travels — Filipino nurses and seafarers are hired worldwide on the strength of it. Outside those fields the institutions need introducing, and there is no post-study route at all: work means an employer and a permit that tests the local labour market first.

How the process works

1

Apply directly; teaching is in English

No language qualification is needed, which removes the usual first obstacle.

⏱ 2–5 months
2

Student visa through the university

Issued on the university’s acceptance and a Bureau of Immigration process.

⏱ 1–3 months

Where students go

Metro Manila
UP Diliman, Ateneo and De La Salle, and the employers
Cebu
Cheaper, and the centre of the maritime training sector

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-04.

Photograph of Philippines by Bahnfrend, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.