The University of Sussex has risen higher among the top 50 universities in the world for delivering on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), newly released global rankings show.

The University has climbed up to joint 37th in the Times Higher Education (THE) World Impact Rankings 2022 out of more than 1,400 institutions, with a score of 93.1 out of 100. 

The score means the University is the seventh highest-performing institution in the UK - up two places from Sussex's first appearance in the rankings last year.

The University scored highest for its performance in the category of Partnership for the Goals, which measures international partnerships and global sustainability activity and where Sussex scored 99.8 out of 100 placing it 3rd in the world.

Sussex also scored highly against the SDGs of No Poverty (13th globally), Sustainable Cities & Communities (joint 20th), and Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions (27th).

And the University was judged to be 18th in the world for Climate Action, joint 32nd for Affordable & Clean Energy and 29th for Responsible Consumption & Production – three SDGs that the University were being evaluated on for the very first time.

In total, the University scored a maximum 100 score in 11 different criteria areas.

Professor Rachel Mills, Provost of the University of Sussex, said: “It is really fantastic that the University is among the top 50 in the world for our work delivering on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for the second year running.

“A huge amount of work has gone on in many different parts of the University to deliver on the Sustainability Strategy we announced last year and it is great to see that we’ve risen up the rankings from last year even as hundreds more universities have submitted data this time around.

“We still have more to do to fulfil our vision to become one of the most sustainable universities in the world. This term we are focussing on Biodiversity and kick starting the Big Biodiversity Conversation to help realise our collective vision of creating the most biodiverse university campus in the UK.”

The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the SDGs.

Universities are ranked based on evidence relating to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and this is the fourth year that the rankings have been published. This is the second consecutive year Sussex has participated in the rankings and we are ranked in 8 out of 17 SDGs, with the top three scoring SDGs and SDG 17 used to calculate overall score.

Rankings are calculated through comparisons across four broad areas:

Research: Delivering the SDGs by creating research in relevant topics.

Stewardship: How universities act as stewards of their physical resources and also their employees, faculty, and students.

Outreach: The work that universities do with their local, regional, national and international communities to create impact on sustainability.

Teaching: Developing the skilled practitioners to deliver on the SDGs and in creating alumni that take forward the key lessons of sustainability into their future careers.

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