More students from public schools, indigenous communities qualify in UP College entrance exam

MANILA, Philippines – The University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman on Wednesday announced that out of 147, 437 applicants, some 18, 350 students qualified for admission through the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) for academic year 2026-2027. UP President Angelo Jimenez also noted that the percentage of qualifiers from public schools has climbed up to 57.1 percent from last year’s 55 percent, which he described to be a continuing trend of more qualifiers from the public schools since 2023. Jimenez told a press conference that the successful examinees, including both degree program qualifiers and those on the waitlist, have received notices from the UP Office of Admissions. “They comprise 12.44 percent of the total number of applicants for the coming academic year,” he stressed. The premier state university said that UPCAT 2026, which was administered August 2025 in 117 testing centers nationwide, posted a higher number of applicants and qualifiers as compared with last year’s 17,996 successful examinees out of 135,236 applicants. Citing the higher number of UPCAT takers this year, Jimenez said it only showed that “more families continue to look to UP as a place where their children’s potential can grow.” While UP Diliman continues to receive the largest share of qualifiers at 32.4 percent, the top university head said that more than 6,701 or 36.52 percent of this year’s qualifiers received admission notices to campuses outside UPD, UP Los Baños, and UP Manila. “This marks an increase from last year’s 34.8 percent or over 6,200 students, which reflects continuing efforts to strengthen the entire UP system and to encourage students to consider the full range of academic opportunities across UP’s constituent universities,” Jimenez said. This year’s results also saw more qualifiers coming from more regions and provinces, he pointed out. Qualifiers from indigenous communities, which comprise 439 or 2.4 percent of the total number of qualifiers, also increased by 16 percent from last year. Moreover, UP Diliman said the Cordillera Administrative Region had 78 qualifiers while the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had 59. “These trends suggest that the steps we have taken to expand and democratize access to quality UP education are beginning to make an impact in meaningful ways,” Jimenez said. He reiterated that the share of qualifiers from public schools increased from 55 percent last year to 57.1 percent this year. Three years ago, more qualifiers came from private schools, 56 percent, than from public schools, 44 percent, the university president said. “UP is inching closer to its preferred intake ratio of 60:40 in favor of public schools,” he said.

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