Out now: Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026

• The University of Manchester in the United Kingdom is number one overall in the Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings
• The second highest ranked university is Griffith University in Australia
• Australia, Malaysia and Canada each have two top 10 universities in overall ranking
• The United Kingdom dominates number one spots on individual SDG tables, with five first positions and three joint first positions
• The United Kingdom has the highest number of top 200 universities
• Asia has the greatest representation – the region accounts for more than half of the universities in the global ranking. Five Asian universities are in the global top 10
• The Philippines has the most universities in the ranking, 160, making it the global leader in terms of representation. The next best represented country in the table is India, with 110
• New countries in the rankings are Mali, Nicaragua, Niger and Tajikistan
• The Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings (previously known as the THE Impact Rankings) are the only global performance tables that assess universities against all 17 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
• Results continue to be presented as ranked tables: a ranking for each of the SDGs and one overall ranking
• Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026 released at Global Sustainable Development Congress in Jakarta, Indonesia
• 1,646 unique institutions from 116 countries/territories ranked across all 18 tables

Top 11 universities in the overall Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026

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If you reproduce any part of these ranking tables or charts, please attribute it to “Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026” and link to the full list on our website.

Times Higher Education’s eighth annual exercise assessing universities’ progress on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is topped by the University of Manchester (United Kingdom), ending the four-year run in first place of Western Sydney University (Australia).

Manchester climbed from number two last year to claim its second top-spot title, having last led the ranking in 2021. Meanwhile, Western Sydney University (Australia) slipped to third position.

In second place is Griffith University (Australia) and Queen’s University in Canada is fourth.

There are five Asian universities in the top 10. Two institutions from Malaysia enter the top 10. Universiti Sains Malaysia is in fifth place and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) is joint seventh alongside Hokkaido University of Japan. South Korea’s Hanyang University is in sixth place.

Continental Europe positioned one institution in the top 10, Institut Agro, in a first for France.

The top 10 is completed by the University of Alberta (Canada) and National Taiwan University (NTU) (Taiwan) at joint 10th.

The big success story this year is the United Kingdom. Alongside the University of Manchester’s triumph as number one overall, the UK also has three universities with world-best performances on seven individual SDGs. Manchester leads or shares the top position on five SDGs; the University of Huddersfield comes out on top for two SDGS; and the University of Edinburgh shares one top position.

The United Kingdom has 27 institutions in the top 100 for SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production) and 20 for SDG 15 (life on land). The country has the highest number of top 200 universities overall. 

France makes its first appearance in the overall top 10 thanks to Institut Agro moving up from joint 23rd last year to claim the number nine spot. 

Two institutions from Germany share the number one slot with six others on SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure).

As was the case last year, Asia is the region with the greatest representation: more than half of universities across all 18 tables are from Asia (962). The Philippines has the most universities in the overall ranking, 160. The next most engaged is India, with 110.

Five Asian universities are in the global top 10, and universities from the region lead on eight of the 17 SDGs. 

Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and India are leaders of two SDG tables, while China and Malaysia top one each.

Malaysia has the highest ranked Asian institution overall, with Universiti Sains Malaysia making its first appearance in the top 10 in fifth place.

Hokkaido University (Japan) returns to the top 10 for the first time since 2022 with its joint number seven position.

Canada has 20 universities in the overall ranking, and two of them are in the top 10. Canada has nine universities among the global top 100. 

Canada’s Queen’s University claims the top position on SDG 2 (zero hunger), while the University of Alberta shares the number one slot on SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure). 

The strongest performer from the United States, Arizona State University (Tempe), is at joint 33 this year in the overall table. Arizona State is the only United States institution in the top 50, and there is only one other US institution in the top 100 (Michigan State University in 80th place).

Making their debut in the rankings this year are Mali, Nicaragua, Niger and Tajikistan. 

In total, 1,646 universities from 116 countries/territories were ranked across all 18 tables.

The Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026, released this week at the Global Sustainable Development Congress in Jakarta, are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Universities are ranked across 18 tables: one overall ranking and 17 tables representing each individual SDG.

Phil Baty, THE’s chief global affairs officer, said:

“The Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings is the world’s most comprehensive framework for evaluating and demonstrating universities’ deep social and economic impacts – through their contribution to all 17 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Universities that take part step forward to submit themselves to an extensive and rigorous assessment on how they are contributing to each and any of the SDGs – through their teaching, their research, their outreach to businesses and communities, and through the stewardship of their own resources, including their estates and their people. 

“The ratings have become a trusted resource for universities and governments worldwide, so I congratulate all participating universities for going through this assessment process to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and leadership on the sustainability agenda. 

“It is particularly exciting to see the sheer diversity of success stories when it comes to social and economic impact: this rating system proves that excellence comes in many shapes, sizes and contexts – not just from the traditionally dominant universities of the Global North. There are examples of excellence right across the world, with notable successes to be found in abundance in all parts of the world.”

Representation

More than half of universities in the Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026 are from Asia (962). The Philippines has the most institutions in the overall ranking, 160. The next most active country is India, with 110.

Europe is represented by 319 institutions in the ranking. North America has 37 representatives, and Oceania has 33. 

Countries with more than 50 representatives are: the Philippines, India, Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

New to the rankings this year are Mali, Nicaragua, Niger and Tajikistan.

Top 10 countries/territories represented in the overall Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026

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Note: the figures in the above table relate to the number of institutions ranked in the overall ranking only, not across all 18 tables.

If you reproduce any part of these ranking tables or charts, please attribute it to “Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026” and link to the full list on our website.

Methodology

The Times Higher Education  Sustainability Impact Ratings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We use carefully calibrated indicators to provide comprehensive and balanced comparisons across four broad areas:research, stewardship, outreach  and  teaching.

There are 17 UN SDGs, and we are evaluating university performance on all of them.

Universities can submit data on as many of these SDGs as they are able. Each SDG has a series of metrics that are used to evaluate the performance of the university in that SDG.

Any university that provides data on SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) and at least three other SDGs is included in the overall ranking.

As well as the overall ranking, we also publish the results of each individual SDG in 17 separate tables.

A university’s total score in a given year is calculated by combining its score in SDG 17 with its best three results on the remaining 16 SDGs. This means that different universities are scored based on a different set of SDGs, depending on their focus. The score for the overall ranking is an average of the past two years’ total scores.

In 2025, participation in the Sustainability Impact Ratings (previously the Impact Rankings) became membership-based. All participating institutions sign up to join the Sustainability Impact Network, the world’s largest higher education membership organisation, and are subjected to the in-depth performance assessment based on their membership.. For more information, see the full methodology.

Notes to editors

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