Impact Rankings 2024: universities make trustworthy stewards

Locale determines the mission of many universities, and the Impact Rankings recognise how such diversity and community-mindedness helps to further progress towards the SDGs

六月 12, 2024

Boat with flock of birds around it to suggest stewardship

Source: Manish Rajput / Getty Images

Browse the full results of the Impact Rankings 2024

Participate in next year’s Impact Rankings

One of the virtues of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings is its recognition of the differing missions and strengths of universities.

While it uses the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a framework, institutions do not need to submit data against all the goals to be included. They need to provide information on only one SDG to join the exercise, and four SDGs (including SDG 17) to be ranked in the overall table – meaning that different universities are scored based on a different set of SDGs, depending on their focus.

In this way, these rankings celebrate diversity, recognising that there is not one single definition of excellence and that it is the collective strength of the global higher education sector that will help to build a more sustainable, collaborative and global future.

This year’s results show that some university systems are emerging as leaders when it comes to particular SDGs. The UK, for example, is home to several top performers for responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), while South Korea is particularly active when it comes to decent work and economic growth (SDG 8). Our analysis explores the strategies behind the success of some of those beacons of excellence.

But the 17 SDGs are just one way in which the focus of universities differs when it comes to making an impact. Another way is the types of activities at institutions.

Traditionally, when one thinks of the work of universities, it is their research and teaching that first come to mind. Both of those areas are examined in the Impact Rankings, but we also measure stewardship – how universities steer their own ships in terms of sustainability – and outreach – the work that universities do with their local, regional, national and international communities.

This year, our data scientists have conducted a new analysis, exploring how performance compares across those four different pillars, at the continent, country and university levels.

There are unsung heroes that are not recognised by traditional research metrics, but are walking the talk on sustainability when it comes to their own operations and community partnerships. There are also institutions that are renowned for their research prowess but still have a long way to go when it comes to getting their own houses in order.

A Nigerian university comes out top globally for both outreach and stewardship, reflecting a broader trend of African universities rising significantly in representation and in performance in the rankings.

There has been rapid growth elsewhere, too, with 2,152 universities from 125 countries/regions featuring in this year’s tables. India is now the most-represented nation, followed closely by Turkey and Pakistan.

We are delighted that we can showcase the vital work of all these universities in these rankings, and the diverse ways that they are delivering transformational impact.

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com

Countries/regions represented in the overall Impact Rankings 2024

Country/region	Number of institutions	Top institution	Rank
India	96	Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham	=81
Turkey	91	Istanbul Technical University	34
Pakistan	89	COMSATS University Islamabad	201-300
		Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology	201-300
Russian Federation	79	Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University	201-300
		RUDN University	201-300
Thailand	77	Mahidol University	=19
Japan	74	Hokkaido University	=72
Iraq	71	University of Basrah	401-600
United Kingdom	68	University of Manchester	=2
Philippines	56	Ateneo de Manila University	201-300
Brazil	55	University of São Paulo	101-200
Algeria	54	University of Oum El Bouaghi	401-600
Uzbekistan	53	Alisher Navo’i Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature	301-400
Spain	52	Polytechnic University of Valencia	101-200
		Rovira i Virgili University	101-200
		University of Barcelona	101-200
		University of Girona	101-200
		University of Jaén	101-200
		University of Vigo	101-200
Taiwan	51	National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)	=25
Egypt	46	Ain Shams University	201-300
		Mansoura University	201-300
United States	46	Arizona State University (Tempe)	9
Indonesia	45	University of Indonesia	31
Ukraine	42	Sumy State University	201-300
France	33	Institut Agro	=21
Saudi Arabia	32	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	=81
Iran	29	Alzahra University	401-600
		Iran University of Medical Sciences	401-600
		Kerman University of Medical Sciences	401-600
Malaysia	28	Universiti Sains Malaysia	18
Colombia	27	Del Rosario University	301-400
		Pontifical Javeriana University	301-400
Kazakhstan	26	Al-Farabi Kazakh National University	401-600
Nigeria	26	Afe Babalola University	101-200
Poland	25	University of Gdańsk	301-400
Canada	24	University of Alberta	6
South Korea	24	Yonsei University (Seoul campus)	11
Italy	22	University of Bologna	=67
Australia	21	Western Sydney University	1
Chile	21	Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile	201-300
		Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB)	201-300
		Universidad del Desarrollo	201-300
Bangladesh	19	Daffodil Inter National University (DIU)	301-400
Romania	19	University of Bucharest	101-200
Greece	18	National and Kapodistrian University of Athens	201-300
Jordan	18	Al-Ahliyya Amman University	201-300
Mexico	18	National Autonomous University of Mexico	64
Azerbaijan	17	Khazar University	601-800
		Western Caspian University	601-800
Portugal	15	University of Coimbra	57
Ecuador	14	Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral	201-300
Vietnam	13	Nguyen Tat Thanh University	301-400
Morocco	12	Ibn Tofaïl University	401-600
		International University of Rabat	401-600
United Arab Emirates	12	Al Ain University	=92
Hungary	11	University of Debrecen	301-400
		University of Szeged	301-400
Czechia	10	Charles University	201-300
South Africa	10	University of Johannesburg	=36
Ghana	9	Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology	101-200
Lebanon	9	American University of Beirut	201-300
		Holy Spirit University of Kaslik	201-300
Peru	9	Pontifical Catholic University of Peru	401-600
Turkmenistan	9	Dovletmammet Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages	1,501+
		Institute of Telecommunications and Informatics of Turkmenistan	1,501+
		International University for the Humanities and Development	1,501+
		Oguz Han Engineering and Technology University of Turkmenistan	1,501+
		State Energy Institute of Turkmenistan	1,501+
		Turkmen Agricultural Institute	1,501+
		Turkmen State Architecture and Construction Institute	1,501+
		Turkmen State Institute of Economics and Management	1,501+
		Yagshigeldi Kakayev International University of Oil and Gas	1,501+
Finland	8	Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT	101-200
		University of Helsinki	101-200
Germany	8	Free University of Berlin	101-200
		University of Konstanz	101-200
Ireland	8	University of Galway	47
New Zealand	8	University of Auckland	=13
Palestine	7	An-Najah National University	201-300
Sri Lanka	7	General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University	601-800
		University of Colombo	601-800
		University of Peradeniya	601-800
Switzerland	7	University of Neuchâtel	201-300
Argentina	6	National University of Córdoba	201-300
Belarus	6	Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics	1,001-1,500
		Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno	1,001-1,500
China	6	Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech)	301-400
Lithuania	6	Klaipeda University	601-800
		Mykolas Romeris University	601-800
Netherlands	6	Delft University of Technology	101-200
		Wageningen University & Research	101-200
Tanzania	6	Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences	801-1,000
Tunisia	6	University of Tunis El Manar	101-200
Belgium	5	Université Catholique de Louvain	=67
Georgia	5	New Vision University	801-1,000
Hong Kong	5	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	=36
Kosovo	5	UBT	1,001-1,500
Latvia	5	University of Latvia	201-300
Northern Cyprus	5	Eastern Mediterranean University	301-400
		Near East University	301-400
Slovakia	5	Comenius University in Bratislava	601-800
Uganda	5	Makerere University	601-800
Bulgaria	4	Sofia University	401-600
Costa Rica	4	Tecnológico de Costa Rica	401-600
		University of Costa Rica	401-600
Croatia	4	University of Split	201-300
Kuwait	4	American University of the Middle East	101-200
Oman	4	Dhofar University	801-1,000
Paraguay	4	Universidad Nacional de Asunción	1,001-1,500
Somalia	4	Abrar University	1,501+
		Mogadishu University	1,501+
		SIMAD University	1,501+
		Zamzam University for Science and Technology	1,501+
Syria	4	Tishreen University	801-1,000
Bahrain	3	Ahlia University	101-200
Cyprus	3	Frederick University	201-300
Dominican Republic	3	Universidad Iberoamericana	801-1,000
Kenya	3	University of Nairobi	801-1,000
Macao	3	Macao Polytechnic University	301-400
Malawi	3	Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources	801-1,000
		Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST)	801-1,000
Sweden	3	KTH Royal Institute of Technology	=72
Afghanistan	2	Al-Taqwa University	1,001-1,500
		Kabul Polytechnic University	1,001-1,500
Angola	2	Universidade Katyavala Bwila	1,501+
		Universidade Rainha Njinga a Mbande (URNM)	1,501+
Armenia	2	Armenian State University of Economics	1,001-1,500
Austria	2	Montanuniversität Leoben	801-1,000
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2	University of Mostar	601-800
Brunei Darussalam	2	Universiti Teknologi Brunei	801-1,000
Denmark	2	Aalborg University	4
Fiji	2	University of the South Pacific	601-800
Iceland	2	University of Iceland	201-300
Israel	2	University of Haifa	=95
Libya	2	University of Benghazi	1,501+
		University of Zawia	1,501+
Mauritius	2	University of Mauritius	1,001-1,500
		University of Technology, Mauritius	1,001-1,500
Slovenia	2	University of Maribor	601-800
Sudan	2	Mashreq University	1,501+
		National University, Sudan	1,501+
Venezuela	2	Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB)	801-1,000