University rankings and sustainable development: the state of the art
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
ISSN: 1467-6370
Article publication date: 14 November 2024
Abstract
Purpose
In light of the growing emphasis on sustainability in higher education, this paper aims to explore the effectiveness of sustainability university rankings, specifically focusing on sustainable development (SD), to understand their impact on advancing universities’ sustainability goals and address gaps in practical implications and limitations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines sustainability rankings in higher education (HE) through document analysis. Chosen for significance, these rankings were evaluated for regional participation, criteria and the top 20 universities. The method involved scrutinising official ranking websites for diverse perspectives on sustainability. The results are classified into three categories: regional participation, assessment criteria and top universities in the latest iterations.
Findings
The findings show that sustainability rankings are widely spread, and their existence has led to an increased motivation for universities to further engage in efforts in the field of SD. This study offers suggestions for optimising the role of promoting SD principles and practices in HE.
Originality/value
This comprehensive assessment sheds light on rankings’ operations and success levels. It makes a significant contribution to the literature, providing an unprecedented overview of analysed rankings and on sustainability assessment and their impact. This analysis will be valuable for universities towards the integration of SD principles and practices into the HE environment.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper is part of the “100 papers to accelerate the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals” initiative.
Declaration of interest: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Data availability statement: The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Citation
Leal Filho, W., Viera Trevisan, L., Wahaj, Z., Déda Araújo Nunes, D., Ruy Portela de Vasconcelos, C., Aparecida Dibbern, T., Ruiz Vargas, V., Iyer-Raniga, U., Anholon, R., Novikau, A., Rimi Abubakar, I. and Pimenta Dinis, M.A. (2024), "University rankings and sustainable development: the state of the art", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-11-2023-0530
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited