QS Sustainability Rankings: Introduction

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.

QS Sustainability Rankings: 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​.n.