Dear colleagues,
The University of Aberdeen has been ranked =83rd in the world in the most recent QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025 published earlier today. The University has ranked 25th in the UK (from 99 institutions) and 3rd in Scotland.
With a growth in participating institutions from 1,403 last year to 1,744 this year, this ranking is becoming ever more competitive. The University’s overall score was virtually identical to last year but in spite of this the University has dropped 46 places globally, and by 10 places in the UK to 25th place, while we remain 3rd in Scotland.
QS Sustainability seeks to measure how universities are responding to environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges, and is based on three categories: Environmental impact (45%), Social impact (45%), and Governance (10%), and various lenses are then applied to each of the three categories.
While our score for the Environmental impact category has increased slightly this year, we have seen a fall of 54 places, ranking 101st in the world. Social Impact has similarly dropped 50 places to 101st place. The score for the Governance category was marginally improved from last year but our rank has dropped 31 places to 80th place.
All three lenses within the Environmental Impact category have dropped in rank but the University continues to be ranked within the top 100 in the world for Environmental Education (36th in the world, and a particularly strong performance nationally, ranking 7th in the UK and 2nd in Scotland) and for Environmental Research (88th in the world). Rank for Environmental Sustainability has, however, fallen from 203rd place in the world to 350th.
The Social Impact category contains five lenses of which three continue to rank within the top 100 in the world, albeit there has been a general downward trend: Equality (51st in the world), Health & Wellbeing (50th), and Knowledge Exchange (49th). Rank for Employability & Opportunities has dropped 83 places to 217th place, and Impact of Education has dropped 149 places to 551st place in the world.
A full report on the results is available on the Directorate of Planning & Governance webpages.
The University’s Sustainable Development Committee will be considering these results in more detail in the coming months to see what improvements we can make in those areas where we perform less strongly.
Best wishes
Karl
Karl Leydecker
Senior Vice-Principal