Walailak University is leading by example in its commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), achieving third place globally for stewardship and fourth place for outreach in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2024 report.
The report, produced in partnership with Elsevier, a leading scientific publishing company, evaluates universities across four areas: research, teaching, stewardship (how universities advance SDGs), and outreach (engagement with local and global communities). Walailak University is the only institution in Southeast Asia to secure a position among the world’s top 10, ranking third globally for stewardship and fourth for outreach.
Professor Dr. Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, President of Walailak University, commented, “Walailak University places great importance on sustainable development in alignment with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and continues to make significant progress in this area. The results are highly satisfactory, providing concrete evidence of the university's outstanding performance. This demonstrates Walailak University's standing as a globally responsible institution committed to social responsibility and sustainable development, serving as a leading advocate for the betterment of the world."
Typically, THE Impact Rankings assess universities based on their top three SDG scores (26% each), plus their score for SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals) at 22%, culminating in an overall score of 100. The new analysis from the THE 2024 report, however, focuses on how universities manage their organisations and influence communities to live sustainably.
In the stewardship category, Afe Babalola University in Nigeria secured first place with a score of 98.2 out of 100, 2.6 points higher than Walailak University (WU). RMIT University in Australia ranked second with 96.1, just 0.5 points ahead of WU. Walailak University ranked third with 95.6, followed by the University of Exeter in the UK with 95.1, and the University of Tasmania in Australia with 95.0.
In the outreach category, Afe Babalola University again topped the list with a score of 98.0, 2.2 points higher than WU. The University of Minnesota in the United States ranked second with 97.0, followed by Arizona State University (Tempe) with 96.2. Walailak University placed fourth with 95.8, and KIIT University in India ranked fifth with 95.0.
The THE Impact Rankings 2024 assessed 2,152 universities from 125 countries, using well-calibrated indicators across four key areas. Excelling in stewardship involves high scores in metrics such as tracking food waste and offering sustainable food choices (SDG 2), maintaining a strong proportion of senior female academics (SDG 5), implementing water reuse policies (SDG 6), ensuring energy efficiency through building renovations (SDG 7), and guaranteeing a living wage (SDG 8). For outreach, top universities excelled in areas such as developing policies to address poverty (SDG 1), collaborating with health institutions (SDG 3), providing energy efficiency education to local communities (SDG 7), engaging in cooperative planning for climate change disasters (SDG 13), and offering expert advice to government (SDG 16).
