Aims
The Sustainability (SUS) indicator highlights which institutions are demonstrating a commitment to a more sustainable existence, and encompasses a variety of factors across environmental, social and governance (ESG).
This includes everything from environmental projects on campus, through to diversity initiatives, institutional governance, and the impact of academic research across the UN's 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).
It evaluates the social and environmental impact of universities as not only centres of education and research, but also as major employers.
Sustainability is an increasingly important issue for students when picking a study destination and QS is proud to be the first major university ranking provider to include it as an indicator in our core rankings.
Relevant Rankings
Sustainability is an indicator used in the following rankings:
It forms part of the Sustainability lens.
Methodology
Below you can find the weighting(s) for the indicator. Weightings are reviewed on an annual basis.
Ranking Project | Weighting |
QS World University Rankings | 5% |
QS Europe Region Rankings | 5% |
Data Sources
An institution's score in the Sustainability indicator is drawn from the standalone QS Sustainability Rankings.
The data used for the QS Sustainability Rankings is a combination of data submitted by institutions, QS data including reputation survey responses, and that gained from third party sources including the UN, UNESCO and the World Bank.
For more information please visit the QS Sustainability Rankings page.
Calculations
An institution's score in the Sustainability indicator is drawn from the standalone QS Sustainability Rankings.
For more information on the lenses and indicators contributing to this score please visit the QS Sustainability Rankings page.