Sustainability is the future. Without it, we may all simply become ash, or sludge, by the year 2100, which is undesirable. Coincidentally, according to Whitney Houston, children are also the future, so sustainable children are pretty much as forward thinking as it gets.
Okay, uni students aren’t ‘children’ but they’re not far off. Just two days ago, QS, one of the world’s biggest analysts of higher education trends and rankings, released its 2024 rankings for the world’s most sustainable universities, and four from the UK made it into the top 10.
Coming in at joint fifth with the University of British Columbia, University College London (UCL) was the highest ranking British institution. It got an overall rating of 98.6 out of 100, particularly excelling in the environmental research and social impact categories. UCL got a perfect score of 100 in ‘knowledge exchange’, which QS describes as ‘efforts in fostering partnerships between developed and developing regions, driving educational growth, and creating positive impacts for both local and global communities.’
UCL’s president, Dr Michael Spence, expressed his pride and gratitude in the accolade, saying: ‘Our groundbreaking research and innovative health programmes, along with our dedication to environmental sustainability, is making headway and having a significant impact on both local and global scales.
‘However, while we celebrate these achievements, we also recognise that there is still much work to be done. We must continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and remain committed to fostering a sustainable future for all.’
Next was Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh, which were in joint seventh place. Both achieved a score of 98.4, only 0.2 less than UCL, and both also achieved near perfect 99s on ‘environmental education’, so they are really dedicated to teaching the youths about the importance of green energy. Good on them.
Finally, the University of Manchester came in joint ninth, although it was only 0.1 point below those above it. It’s a dog-eat-dog world in the arena of QS sustainabililty rankings.
As you move up the table, more and more UK schools make the list, with a total of nine in the top 25. Clearly we are a nation which cares what happens to our planet. Let’s give ourselves a pat on the back for that.
You can find more info on QS’s most sustainable universities in the world here and have a look at the full QS sustainability league table here.
2025 UK university rankings with Time Out
If you’ve been following other recent university rankings on Time Out, you’ll notice some significant differences. The Sunday Times 2025 ranking was topped by LSE and St Andrews, the Daily Mail and the Guardian placed Imperial at the top, the ARWU had Oxford and Cambridge repping the UK and QS had Imperial as the highest-ranking UK uni.
Did you see that the UK’s top 10 private schools have been crowned by the Sunday Times Parent Power Guide 2025?
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