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The latest Times Higher Education Impact Rankings include seven Scottish universities, the highest showing yet in the four years since the Impact Rankings were established. Their success comes amidst a 25 percent rise in participating universities.
The universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh appeared in the top 100 as did Glasgow Caledonian University. The Scottish contingent also included Aberdeen, Strathclyde, Dundee and University of the West of Scotland.
The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and provide comparison across four broad areas: research, stewardship, outreach and teaching. The latest tables include 1,406 universities from 106 countries/regions.
UN member states adopted the 17 goals for sustainable development in 2015, and they are described as “an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership”. The goals recognise that the ending of poverty and other types of deprivation must go hand-in-hand with strategies to improve education and health, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth.
Each of the seven Scottish universities in the 2022 rankings scored highly under the UN’s goal for strengthening global partnerships.
Mike Cantlay, Chair of the Scottish Funding Council, said:
“By contributing so strongly to the UN’s Agenda for Sustainable Development, our universities are helping to enhance Scotland’s international reputation and strengthen our relationship with other countries.”
A recent Scottish Funding Council report looked in detail at the effect Scottish university research has on both the UN goals and Scotland’s National Performance Framework.
