Browse the full results of the?Impact Rankings 2025

There is a village in the Philippines that until recently was shrouded in darkness every evening; residents simply couldn¡¯t afford to use electricity. They wanted solar-powered street lamps and, through a project with a local NGO and US-based undergraduate students, one was designed and installed in the village. But with no resources to replicate it, it lit up just one small corner of the village.

The students got to know the villagers better and together they created an affordable, portable ; students provided the prototype and then taught villagers how to build it themselves.?

¡°We¡¯re helping them create their own light,¡± summarised Mandy Bratton, executive director of the Center for 51³Ô¹Ï Sustainable Development at the University of California, San Diego, when she told me the story last year. The students involved were on the centre¡¯s 51³Ô¹Ï Ties programme, which partners interdisciplinary teams of undergraduates with non-profit NGOs and the communities with which they work to co-create solutions to urgent challenges. The team are now developing a?device that will harness solar energy to charge phones in disaster situations.

The lantern is just one powerful example of the countless ways in which universities make a positive, tangible impact on communities across the world. The 51³Ô¹Ï Impact Rankings aims to shine a spotlight on this vital work ¨C demonstrating the many ways in which universities are contributing to the United Nations¡¯ Sustainable Development Goals. They are a celebration of universities¡¯ impact through their core activities of research, stewardship, outreach and teaching, and require institutions to better document and publicise their work in this area. But they also hold institutions to account, highlighting where the sector is falling short and which areas demand more progress.

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This year¡¯s results include data on a record 2,526 universities across 130 countries and territories. As in previous years, there are 18 rankings tables ¨C one overall ranking, and one ranking for each of the 17 SDGs. ?

The latest data shows that universities in East and South-east Asia are improving rapidly when it comes to their contributions towards sustainable development, as explored in our main analysis. However, globally, universities are falling short on their mental health support for staff, while many are still not assessing their students¡¯ learning about sustainability.

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This year¡¯s ranking also comes 10 years after the creation of the SDGs and amid scepticism that the goals will be met by the target year of 2030. A recent led by academics in Mexico concluded that no countries were on track to meet all 17 SDGs, while international funding cuts in the US and elsewhere further threaten their progress.?

Despite the hurdles, universities are continuing to make an impact and striving to keep the momentum going. Even in South Sudan, where conflict, the climate crisis and poor infrastructure and funding mean pursuing the SDGs is a major challenge, universities are still playing a positive role, as explained by an academic in the country and one of his collaborators in the UK.

As nations potentially stall on sustainable development, it becomes ever more vital for universities to take up the mantle ¨C to continue to do the life-changing work they have always done and to shout even louder about it. It might just bring some more light into the world.

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com

Countries/regions represented in the overall Impact Rankings 2025

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