The University of Westminster has been recognised as one of the top 15% out of over 1960 universities from around the world for its work on contributing to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to the Times Higher Education (THE)’s Impact Rankings 2024. This is the fifth year in a row that the University has maintained its high overall ranking with notable achievements across several individual SDGs, contributing to the exceptional performance of the UK in the league table.
The THE Impact Rankings are the only global performance table that assesses universities against the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since its first submission in 2019, the University of Westminster has been committed to living up to and building on its excellent performance in this prestigious league table every year.
This year, Westminster has successfully held its place in the top 300 universities in the world for delivering these goals even as the number of universities assessed increased from 1591 institutions to 1963 worldwide. This places the University in the top 15% overall, up from the top 20% last year.
The Impact Rankings allow for institutions to submit evidence for any number of SDGs. This year, Westminster submitted evidence to SDG3: Good Health and Wellbeing, SDG5: Gender Equality, SDG7: Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG10: Reduced Inequalities, SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG13: Climate Action, SDG16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, and SDG17: Partnerships for the Goals.
For 2024, the University scored particularly well in SDGs 5: Gender Equality, 10: Reduced Inequalities and 12: Responsible Consumption and Production being in the top 200 globally, and in 17: Partnerships for the Goals placing Westminster in the top 300 universities worldwide.
Looking into the future, led by the Westminster Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation, the University has recently started the process of embedding education for sustainable development across its entire undergraduate and postgraduate curricula. From the next academic year, the SDGs will have a formal place in the curricula of all final-year undergraduate courses, before this approach is rolled out more broadly across other levels of study.
Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Bonfield, who is also Professor of Engineering and Sustainable Development, said: “It is so pleasing to see our unequivocal commitment to creating positive impacts towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals being reflected in our excellent performance in these impact rankings. This is testament to the creative, inspiring and collective efforts of our Westminster students, colleagues and partners who strive every day to push forward to make our impact on a more sustainable, fair, prosperous and peaceful world in partnership with others. Many congratulations and Go Westminster!”
Holly Jones, Head of Sustainability at the University of Westminster, said: “It’s great to see that our hard work toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is being recognised on a global level year after year. The progress we are making, hand in hand with other universities, undoubtedly makes the world a better place.
“We are also thrilled that Dr Ro Spankie and Dr Pooja Basnett could share ideas and insights about SDGs at the THE Global Sustainable Development Congress 2024 that has taken place in Bangkok this week.
“We will continue to build on our work towards the SDGs both internally and externally by collaborating with our partners and other universities, both in the UK and around the world.”
Learn more about Sustainable Development at the University of Westminster, including the University’s latest Sustainable Development Goals report.
