The QS World University Rankings: Sustainability provides students with a unique lens on which institutions are demonstrating a commitment to a more sustainable existence.
More than just the commitment, it looks for outwards evidence of this - from the impact that alumni are making in science and technology to solve climate issues, to the impact of research being done across the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The ranking evaluates the social and environmental impact of universities as a centres of education and research, as well as a major employers with the operational sustainability challenges of any large and complex organization.
2025 Ranking Cycle - Changes
Environmental Sustainability - ES2: Member of an officially recognised sustainable group
- CANIE (the Climate Action Network for International Educators) has been added to the list of recognised sustainable groups
Employment and Opportunities - EO3: Job Preparedness (Graduates View)
- This indicator has been removed from the methodology
- The 1% weighting has been reassigned to EO1: Employer Reputation
Key Dates
Research for the World University Rankings begins in September and the Rankings are published in June.
Data Collection
| Date Starts | Date Ends | |
| Survey Contacts Submission | September 2024 | 31 January 2025 |
| Academic Survey | November 2024 | March/April 2025 |
| Employer Survey | November 2024 | March/April 2025 |
| Institution Data | February 2025 | 15 April 2025 |
Methodology
In each of our rankings we use a range of measurements as part of our methodology. These can be split into three broad groups.
Each ranking is made up of a different group of measurements, with some being used across several rankings and others unique to one project.
Category
Used in Sustainability, we use three Categories to group lenses together: Environmental Impact, Social Impact, and Governance
Lens
A group of Indicators which are related to the same theme.
Indicator
A measurement of one aspect of an institution’s performance. Institutions are scored and ranked within indicators and those indicator scores contribute to its overall rank and score.
Metric
A more specific calculation that forms part of an Indicator.
Categories, Lenses, and Indicators
Below you can find the Categories, Lenses, and Indicators used in this ranking.
Weightings are reviewed on an annual basis.
Click on each measurement for more detailed information.
Eligibility and Inclusion
Not all higher education institutions are eligible for our rankings, and not all eligible institutions are ranked. Below you can find the criteria for institutions.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Sustainability Rankings an institution must be eligible for one or all of the following:
- QS World University Rankings
- QS Rankings by Region
- QS Rankings by Subject
Business Schools are not currently eligible.
Inclusion
To be included in the Sustainability Rankings an institution must:
- Possess a non-zero score in 'Research Impact on SDGs for Environmental Research (Environmental Impact category)
- Possess a non-zero score in at least 2 out of 4 SDG research metrics in the Social Impact category
- EO2 - Research Impact on SDGs for Employment and Opportunities
- EQ1 - Research Impact on SDGs for Equality
- HW1 - Research Impact of SDGs for Health and Wellbeing
- IE1 - Research Impact on SDGs for Education
Data Submissions
All institutions can submit data for the rankings. This data is important in ensuring our rankings are as accurate as possible.
You should submit data for your institution through our QS HUB platform. Please contact our Institution Support Team via our helpdesk if you do not have login details, or need further support.
Our rankings are not opt-in/opt-out, so it is in an institution's best interest to ensure that we reflect them accurately by submitting their data.
Where we don’t have data submitted by an institution, we feature them on the strength of proprietary and publicly available or previously supplied data. Our rankings are designed with this in mind.
If you would like your institution to be considered for inclusion in the Rankings and your institution has not received a submission email, please contact: rankings@qs.com.
Data Reporting Period
For the majority of the data we request, the reporting period should cover the academic year previous to our rankings cycle.
This will be approximately January to December for the Southern Hemisphere, and August to July for the Northern Hemisphere.
There are exceptions to this, so please refer to our data dictionary if you are unsure.
