The University of Aberdeen has performed strongly in a new QS sustainability ranking achieving an overall position of 64th in the world and 17th in the UK.
The inaugural ranking from Quacquarelli Symonds, a leading global provider of comparative data on higher education providers, includes 700 institutions across the world and aims to showcase what universities are doing to accelerate environmental and social change in response to the climate crisis threatening the world. It is based on two main categories: Environmental Impact and Social Impact which are made up of separate indicators which map on to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The University is ranked 34th in the world for Environmental Impact and =182nd for Social Impact, placing 7th and 30th in the UK respectively.
Overall the University is 13th in the world and 2nd in the UK for sustainable education – a metric within Environmental Impact, which amongst other things assess the availability of courses that embed climate science and/or sustainability within the curriculum.
A rank of 94th globally and 16th in the UK has been achieved for Sustainable Institutions and 187th globally (22nd in the UK) for Sustainable Research.
The rank for Social Impact including Knowledge Exchange, Life Quality and Equality was top 200.
Senior Vice-Principal Professor Karl Leydecker said: “Environmental sustainability and social impact are at the heart of our Aberdeen 2040 strategy and this positive result is recognition of the hard work we are doing to meet our ambitions.
“As a community we are dedicated to working and living sustainably and to achieving net zero carbon emissions before 2040.
“It is pleasing to see this recognition for the University in this very important area that aligns well with our vision set out in Aberdeen 2040: to be a university having real impact in the world and making a strong contribution to environmental sustainability through our education, research and how we operate as an organisation.”
A full analysis of the University’s performance in the QS Sustainability Ranking is available on the Planning and Governance Directorate pages here.