Times Higher Education (THE) has launched their new ranking, the inaugural THE University Impact Rankings, shaped around the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), on Wednesday 3 April 2019.
UJ has been ranked fifth in the world for the Reduced Inequalities SDG University Impact Ranking and 43rd in the world for the Gender Equality SDG University Impact Ranking. The former Reduced Inequalities impact ranking assesses universities on their commitment to addressing social and economic inequalities and to providing access to under-represented groups. The latter Gender Equality impact ranking assesses universities on their research on the study of gender and their commitment to recruiting, promoting, and supporting women. These individual SDG impact rankings highlight those universities that are best achieving and delivering the objectives of the associated SDGs. These phenomenal results are testament to the sterling work that the University is doing to reduce all forms of inequality and inequity across race, gender, disability, class, etc.
This new impact ranking is the first of its kind providing a new mechanism for gauging university performance. It offers an alternative view of university excellence vastly different from the research-focused global rankings to which universities have become accustomed and instead focuses on universities’ social and economic impact and their contribution to society and the global knowledge economy, evaluated against eleven of the 17 UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There was a commendable turnout in the inaugural edition of this impact ranking, with a total of 560 universities from 75 countries around the world taking part in the pilot data collection and submission exercise.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership.
