World’s leading universities tackling UN’s Sustainable Development Goals revealed in THE’s Impact Rankings 2024  

Universities around the globe have been assessed and ranked on their efforts to drive forward the United Nation’s (UN) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Times Higher Education’s (THE) Impact Rankings 2024. 

• Western Sydney University is the world’s highest ranked university coming top in the overall category, a position it attained last year and in 2022 too 
• The UK has a university in the number one position in five individual SDGs – more than any other country 
• Australia has the most universities in the world in the top 10 – four – in the overall category. Canada and UK each have two universities in the overall top 10 
• The UK has the most universities in the world in the top 100 – 25 – in the overall category 
• India has the most universities in the ranking – 105  
• 24 universities from 12 countries/regions achieved number one positions across the 17 UN SDGs 
• A record 2,152 universities from 125 countries/regions are assessed, which is a significant increase on last year where 1,705 universities were ranked, representing a 26% increase. 

THE’s Impact Rankings 2024: overall top 20  

If you reproduce any part of the tables or graphs in this release please credit: Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024 - (and please include the link to the full table)  

The ranking, now in its sixth year, is the world’s only one that measures universities’ contributions to the UN’s 17 SDGs and assesses their commitment to sustainability across four broad areas: research, stewardship, outreach and teaching. 

The findings are displayed in 18 league tables, one for each of the 17 individual SDGs, and one overall ranking table. To appear in the overall ranking table, universities must have submitted to SDG 17 - partnerships for the goals and a minimum of three other SDGs.  

There are 595 newly ranked universities and universities from 14 countries have participated in the ranking for the first time this year, which are: Albania, Angola, Comoros, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Libya, Malawi, North Macedonia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Yemen. 

Highest ranked higher education institutions, in the overall category, in each region: 

• Africa: University of Johannesburg, South Africa – joint 36th  
• Arab region: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia – joint 81st 
• Asia: Yonsei University (Seoul campus), South Korea – 11th  
• Australasia: Western Sydney University, Australia – 1st  
• Europe: University of Manchester, UK – joint 2nd  
• North America: University of Alberta, Canada – 6th  
• Latin America: National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico – 64th  

Phil Baty, Times Higher Education’s chief global affairs officer, said: “Times Higher Education’s Impact Rankings is like no other as it moves beyond the more traditional research-focused rankings to look at far broader issues - examining how universities’ are improving our world.   

“Submitting data to Impact is a time consuming and rigorous exercise every university has to undertake to be part of the ranking. Universities do this to show how important it is to them, and the communities they serve, that they’re standing up to be counted on their commitments to tackle the UN’s sustainable development goals, which is truly inspiring. 

“It is also a tremendous undertaking on THE’s part as our data team sifts through the data and checks, validates, scrutinizes and then collates it all to be able to rank the universities. In so doing the ranking is an extremely valuable tool for universities, governments, funders, policymakers and prospective students to see how universities are demonstrating to all they serve how they’re delivering social and economic impact on the world stage.” 

The two most popular SDGs (excluding SDG 17) are SDG 4 – quality education – with 1,681 universities, followed by SDG 3 – good health and well-being with 1,498 and SDG 5 – gender equality and 1,361 universities. 

Highest placed higher education institution in all 17 SDGs   

• SDG 1 – No poverty – Universitas Airlangga (Indonesia) Research on poverty and support for students from poor families   
• SDG 2 – Zero hunger – Queen’s University (Canada) - Research on hunger, teaching on food sustainability and commitment to tackling food waste and hunger on campus and locally   
• SDG 3 – Good health and well-being - JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (India) - Research on key diseases and conditions, support for healthcare professions, and health of students and staff   
• SDG 4 – Quality education - Aalborg University (Denmark) - Contributions to early years and lifelong learning and commitment to inclusive education   
• SDG 5 – Gender equality: Western Sydney University (Australia) - Research and policies on gender equality and commitment to recruiting and promoting women 
• SDG 6 – Clean water and sanitation – University of Exeter (UK) - Research related to water, water usage and commitment to ensuring good water management in wider community 
• SDG 7 – Affordable and clean energy - Afe Babalola University (Nigeria) Energy research, energy use and policies, and commitment to promoting energy efficiency   
• SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth - Kyungpook National University (South Korea) - Economics research, employment practices and share of students taking work placements 
• SDG 9 – Industry, innovation and infrastructure - Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), RWTH Aachen University (Germany), Technical University of Munich (Germany), TU Dresden (Germany), University of Edinburgh (UK), University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany), University of Stuttgart (Germany) and Yonsei University (Seoul campus) (South Korea) - Research on industry and innovation, number of patents and spin-off companies and research income from industry   
• SDG 10 – Reduced inequalities – RMIT University (Australia) - Research on social inequalities, policies on discrimination and commitment to recruiting staff and students from under-represented groups   
• SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities - University of Manchester (UK) - Research on sustainability, role as custodians of arts and heritage and internal approaches to sustainability   
• SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production – Bournemouth University (UK) and King’s College London (UK) - Research on responsible consumption and approach to the sustainable use of resources   
• SDG 13 – Climate action – University of Tasmania (Australia) - Research on climate change, use of energy and preparations for dealing with consequences of climate change   
• SDG 14 – Life below water - Arizona State University (Tempe) (United States) - Research on life below water and education on and support for aquatic ecosystems   
• SDG 15 – Life on land – University of Manchester (UK) - Research on life on land and education on and support for land ecosystems   
• SDG 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions – Universiti Sains Malaysia (Malaysia) - Research on peace and justice, participation as advisers for government and policies on academic freedom 
• SDG 17 – Partnerships for the goals – University of Technology Sydney (Australia) - The broader ways in which universities support the SDGs through collaboration with other countries, promotion of best practices and publication of data   

Overall top 100 of THE’s Impact Rankings 2024 

View the full Impact Rankings 2024 results here. Read the methodology here.