°Õ³ó±ðÌýÌÇÐÄVlogÌýImpact Rankings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. WeÌýuse carefully calibrated indicators to provide comprehensive and balanced comparisons across four broad areas:Ìýresearch,Ìýstewardship,ÌýoutreachÌýandÌýteaching.

Definitions of areas

Research:Ìýthe most obvious and traditional way that a university might help deliver the SDGs is by creating research in relevant topics.

Stewardship:Ìýuniversities are custodians of significant resources; not just physical resources, but also their employees, faculty and students. How they act as stewards is one of the key factors in delivering the SDGs.

Outreach:Ìýplace is critical in higher education, and the work that universities do with their local, regional, national and international communities is another key way that they can have an impact on sustainability.

ÌÇÐÄVlog

Teaching:Ìýteaching plays a critical role, both in ensuring that there are enough skilled practitioners to deliver on the SDGs, and in making sure that all alumni take forward the key lessons of sustainability into their future careers.

Which SDGs are included?

There are 17 UN SDGs, and we are evaluating university performance on all of them.

ÌÇÐÄVlog

• SDG 1 –Ìýno poverty
• SDG 2 –Ìýzero hunger
• SDG 3 –Ìýgood health and well-being
• SDG 4 –Ìýquality education
• SDG 5 –Ìýgender equality
• SDG 6 –Ìýclean water and sanitation
• SDG 7 –Ìýaffordable and clean energy
• SDG 8 –Ìýdecent work and economic growth
• SDG 9 –Ìýindustry, innovation and infrastructure
• SDG 10 –Ìýreduced inequalities
• SDG 11 –Ìýsustainable cities and communities
• SDG 12 –Ìýresponsible consumption and production
• SDG 13 –Ìýclimate action
• SDG 14 –Ìýlife below water
• SDG 15 –Ìýlife on land
• SDG 16 –Ìýpeace, justice and strong institutions
• SDG 17 –Ìýpartnerships for the goals

Universities can submit data on as many of these SDGs as they are able. Each SDG has aÌýseries of metrics that are used to evaluate the performance ofÌýthe university inÌýthat SDG.

Any university that provides data on SDG 17 and at least three other SDGs is included inÌýthe overall ranking.

As well as the overall ranking, we also publish the results of each individual SDG in 17 separate tables.

How is the ranking created?

A university’sÌýtotal score in a given year is calculated by combining its score in SDGÌý17 with its best three results on the remaining 16 SDGs. SDGÌý17 accounts for 22Ìýper cent of theÌýtotal score, while the other SDGs each carry a weighting of 26Ìýper cent. This means that different universities are scored based on a different set of SDGs, depending on their focus.ÌýThe score for the overall ranking is an average of the last two years’ total scores.

The score from each SDG is scaled so that the highest score in each SDG in the overall calculation is 100 and the lowest score is 0. This is to adjust for minor differences in the scoring range in each SDG and to ensure that universities are treated equitably whichever SDGs they have provided data for. It is these scaled scores that we use to determine which SDGs aÌýuniversity has performed in most strongly; they may not be the SDGs in which the university is ranked highest or has scored highest based on unscaled scores.

The metrics for the 17 SDGs are included on their individual methodology pages.

Scoring within an SDG

There are three categories of metrics within each SDG:

ÌÇÐÄVlog

Continuous metricsÌýmeasure contributions to impact that vary continually across a range – for example, the number of graduates with a health-related degree. These are usually normalised to the size of the institution.

ÌÇÐÄVlog

When we ask about policies and initiatives – for example, the existence of mentoring programmes – our metrics require universities to provide theÌýevidenceÌýto support their claims. In these cases, we give credit for the evidence, and for the evidence being public. These metrics are not usually size-normalised.

Evidence is evaluated against a set of criteria, and decisions are cross-validated where there is uncertainty. Evidence need not be exhaustive – we are looking for examples that demonstrate best practice at the institutions concerned.

Time frame

In general, the data used refer to the closest academic year to January to December 2022. The date range for each metric is specified in the full methodology document.

Exclusions

The ranking is open to any university that teaches at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Although research activities form part of the method­ology, there is noÌýminimum research requirement for participation.

THEÌýreserves the right to exclude universities that it believes have falsified data, or are noÌýlonger in good standing.

Data collection

Institutions provide and sign off their institutional data for use in the rankings. On the rare occasions when a particular data point is not provided, we enter a value of zero.

The methodology was developed in conjunction with our partnersÌýÌýand Elsevier, and after consultation and input from individual universities, academics and sector groups.

.

Browse archived 2024 results of the Impact Rankings

ÌÇÐÄVlog