Impact Rankings 2023: clean water and sanitation

The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We use carefully calibrated indicators to provide comprehensive and balanced comparison across four broad areas: research, stewardship, outreach and teaching.

This table on SDG 6 – clean water and sanitation measures universities’ research related to water, their water usage and their commitment to ensuring good water management in the wider community.

The list includes 702 institutions from 84 countries/regions.

View the methodology for Impact Rankings 2023: clean water and sanitation (SDG 6)

The UK’s University of Exeter leads the table. Australia’s Western Sydney University and the University of the Sunshine Coast come up in second and third.

The UK and Australia are the most-represented nations in the top 100 with 12 each. Canada follows with 11.

The Impact Rankings are inherently dynamic: they are growing rapidly each year as many more universities seek to demonstrate their commitment to delivering the SDGs by joining our database; and they allow institutions to demonstrate rapid improvement year-on-year, by introducing clear new policies, for example, or by providing clearer and more open evidence of their progress. Therefore, we expect and welcome regular change in the ranked order of institutions (and we discourage year-on-year comparisons) as universities continue to drive this urgent agenda.

View the full results of the overall Impact Rankings 2023

Read our analysis of the Impact Rankings 2023 results


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Explore Impact Rankings for individual SDGs

rank order Rank Name Clean water and sanitation Node ID
Overall