On the 5^th of December, the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) university world rankings for sustainability were released, with Birmingham coming out in 35^th place.

The University was ranked the 19^th best in Europe, and the 13^th best in England.

The rankings used nearly 1,400 universities from around the world, meaning that Birmingham ranks within the top 3% globally.

This is a huge improvement from 2023, as the University failed to break into the top 100 universities in the first iteration of the rankings.

In general, universities in the UK scored very well, with the University of Manchester being ranked third in the world, and first in Europe.

The top university in the world was the University of Toronto, followed by the University of California, Berkeley.

The purpose of the rankings, according to QS, is to provide students with a way of seeing how their university is ‘demonstrating a commitment to a more sustainable existence.’

To be eligible for the ranking, institutions had to be eligible for QS World University Rankings, and business schools are not eligible.

More than just looking for evidence of intention, QS also look for tangible impacts that show the sustainability of the institution, for example the impact of alumni in science and technology on climate innovation.

The criteria for the rankings were social impact, environmental impact, and governance. These rankings were used to evaluate the ‘institution’s ability to tackle the world’s greatest environmental, social and governance challenges.’

In terms of social impact, QS looked at how universities are trying to improve society through equality, knowledge exchange, impact of education, employability and health and wellbeing.

Social impact offered 45% of the weight in determining the overall rankings.

Birmingham scored very well in this category, catapulting the institution up the rankings with a 95.4 overall score. UoB scored 99.4 in knowledge exchange, and 99.8 in health and wellbeing.

This score situated Birmingham in equal 20^th for social impact, tied with the University of Southampton.

45% of the weight was also determined by environmental impact. QS looked at the environmental sustainability, education and research of each institution to evaluate their performance.

The purpose of looking into the environmental impact of each institution is to recognise efforts to improve the planet through research, strategy and impact on the future of sustainability.

Here, Birmingham ranked in joint 56^th place, scoring 78.3 points overall, excelling in environmental research with a score of 97.6 points in this category.

The other 10% of the ranking points were determined by the governance of the institution.

Good governance is defined by QS as being ‘vital if countries are to pursue and meet the sustainable development goals.’

Arguably the most complex of the categories, QS uses ten different metrics to determine the quality of governance of universities. These include dedicated staff for sustainable development, student representation in governance and staff perception on institutional ethics.

Each of the metrics are given the same weight in this governance category.

Birmingham also scored well in governance, finishing with a score of 96.8. This placed them at 38^th in the world for this category.

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