Top universities in the world for global impact 2025

These are the universities committed to fostering the Sustainable Development Goals and working towards equality and a sustainable future. Explore the top 100 universities making a global impact in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 

From the crisis of plastic in the oceans to gender disparities in pay, the world’s biggest concerns are more and more in the minds of consumers and corporations. And no one understands the importance of tackling these better than universities and students.

But which universities are incorporating these global issues into their governance? And how can we measure the real impact that universities are making on their students and their wider communities?

Times Higher Education has put together the Impact Rankings to shine a light on those institutions that are working hard to tackle global issues such as gender inequality, quality education for all, climate change, promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, economic growth and good health and well-being.

To compile the rankings, we mapped how universities around the world are committing to the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a global call to action to tackle poverty, climate change and inequality.

Universities were invited to submit data on how they were progressing on the SDGs. More than 2,000 universities submitted data this year across the SDGs. You can read more about the methodology here.

This ranking is a crucial resource for students choosing universities because it moves away from assessing universities on their research output and focuses instead on the impact that universities are having on some of the world’s most pressing issues.

Top five universities in the overall Impact Rankings 2025

1. Western Sydney University

Western Sydney University tops the ranking for the fourth year running.

The university scored particularly highly for SDG 15 (life on land) and SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production).

The university has prioritised research in areas relating to SDG 4 (quality education), SDGs 13, 14 and 15 (relating to environment and sustainability), SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDGs 11 and 12 (sustainable cities and communities, and responsible consumption and production).

A series of key initiatives has also been introduced on campus to increase its sustainability, including implementing a pilot solar-powered car park on the Kingswood Campus, offsetting the carbon footprint of international travel and installing more electric-vehicle charging stations on campus.

2. University of Manchester

The University of Manchester takes second place this year.

The UK university has demonstrated its commitment to the SDGs through a range of research institutes and centres, including the Manchester Environmental Research Institute, the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research and the Sustainable Consumption Institute, among others.

On campus, the university has implemented the Living Campus plan, which aims to address the challenges of growing an urban campus while encouraging local biodiversity. The students’ union has also set a target for the university to become plastic-free by 2025.

3. Kyungpook National University

Kyungpook National University in South Korea is the highest ranking university in Asia in this year’s Impact Rankings.

The university scores highly for SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and SDG 17 (partnership for the goals). 

Kyungpook National University conducts research in various areas such as cancer diagnosis, approaches to wastewater removal, and the removal of metals in water. 

=4 Griffith University

Griffith University has climbed 20 places to take this year’s joint-fourth position. Griffith University is still a relatively young university having been established in 1975. 

The Australian university scores highly for SDG 15 (life on land) and SDG 14 (life below water). 

In terms of research the university is home to a range of research centres conducting research in topics such as health policy, low-carbon energy, climate action and social change. 

Students can join a range of clubs relating to the SDGs including marine society, sustainable medicine society and women in engineering. 

=4. University of Tasmania

The University of Tasmania is the third university from Australia to feature in the top five of the 2025 Impact Rankings.

It also claims first place for SDG 13 (climate action) for the third year in a row.

The university has been carbon neutral-certified since 2016. There is also a sustainability committee made up of senior leadership and student representatives at the university. The committee aims to identify and share actions that embed sustainability into university life.

Across campus a variety of green initiatives are under way, such as the waste-minimisation action plan and the sustainable transport plan.

Impact Ranking 2025: Top 100

Impact Rank 2025	Impact Rank 2024	University	Country/region
1	1	Western Sydney University	Australia
2	=2	University of Manchester	United Kingdom
3	=39	Kyungpook National University (KNU)	South Korea
=4	24	Griffith University	Australia
=4	=2	University of Tasmania	Australia
=6	9	Arizona State University (Tempe)	United States
=6	8	Queen’s University	Canada
8	6	University of Alberta	Canada
=9	4	Aalborg University	Denmark
=9	=81	Universitas Airlangga	Indonesia
11	7	UNSW Sydney	Australia
12	12	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom
13	=67	Pusan National University	South Korea
=14	30	McMaster University	Canada
=14	=55	National Taiwan University (NTU)	Taiwan
=14	18	Universiti Sains Malaysia	Malaysia
=14	=13	University of Victoria	Canada
=14	=21	Western University	Canada
=19	23	Kyung Hee University	South Korea
=19	=19	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Hong Kong
=21	–	Flinders University	Australia
=21	11	Yonsei University (Seoul campus)	South Korea
=23	=21	Institut Agro	France
=23	=36	University of Johannesburg	South Africa
=25	=52	Central Queensland University	Australia
=25	=81	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Saudi Arabia
=25	63	University of Malaya	Malaysia
=28	=13	University of Auckland	New Zealand
=28	10	University of Exeter	United Kingdom
30	31	University of Indonesia	Indonesia
=31	=25	National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)	Taiwan
=31	=44	University of Wollongong	Australia
33	=13	University of Technology Sydney	Australia
34	=36	Durham University	United Kingdom
35	17	Simon Fraser University	Canada
36	=65	Swansea University	United Kingdom
37	101–200	Abdullah Gül University	Turkey
38	35	York University	Canada
39	=39	University of Newcastle	Australia
40	99	King Faisal University	Saudi Arabia
=41	=81	Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham	India
=41	50	National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University	Taiwan
43	201–300	Near East University	Northern Cyprus
=44	=75	Chiang Mai University	Thailand
=44	43	Chulalongkorn University	Thailand
=44	101–200	Hanyang University	South Korea
=44	=72	Hokkaido University	Japan
=48	34	Istanbul Technical University	Turkey
=48	101–200	Lovely Professional University	India
=50	24	Macquarie University	Australia
=50	=28	University of Reading	United Kingdom
52	=19	Université Laval	Canada
=53	=48	Northumbria University	United Kingdom
=53	201–300	Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia	Malaysia
55	=28	Université de Montréal	Canada
=56	101–200	JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research	India
=56	5	RMIT University	Australia
=56	=77	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong
=59	201–300	Bahçeşehir University	Turkey
=59	=39	Bournemouth University	United Kingdom
=61	=25	Michigan State University	United States
=61	=89	University of Canterbury	New Zealand
63	42	University of Pretoria	South Africa
=64	=77	Bangor University	United Kingdom
=64	=19	Mahidol University	Thailand
=64	51	Penn State (Main campus)	United States
=64	=81	Thammasat University	Thailand
=64	47	University of Galway	Ireland
=69	101–200	Hong Kong Baptist University	Hong Kong
=69	=65	IMT Atlantique	France
=71	=13	Florida International University	United States
=71	301–400	Korea University	South Korea
=71	=44	The Chinese University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
=71	=89	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
=71	=52	University of Leeds	United Kingdom
76	=61	University of Limerick	Ireland
=77	101–200	National Yunlin University of Science and Technology	Taiwan
=77	=25	University of Strathclyde	United Kingdom
79	101–200	Queen’s University Belfast	United Kingdom
80	57	University of Coimbra	Portugal
81	201–300	Sunway University	Malaysia
=82	201–300	An-Najah National University	Palestine
=82	101–200	Universitas Gadjah Mada	Indonesia
=84	101–200	Afe Babalola University	Nigeria
=84	=75	Massey University	New Zealand
=84	=48	University of Aberdeen	United Kingdom
=84	101–200	University of Plymouth	United Kingdom
=88	=65	Dalhousie University	Canada
=88	=89	University of Liverpool	United Kingdom
=90	=92	Al Ain University	United Arab Emirates
=90	101–200	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)	Saudi Arabia
=90	101–200	Lakehead University	Canada
=93	=67	Université Catholique de Louvain	Belgium
=93	101–200	University of Bucharest	Romania
=93	101–200	Walailak University	Thailand
=96	88	Middle East Technical University	Turkey
=96	101–200	Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences	India
=98	201–300	Chonnam National University	South Korea
=98	101–200	Lancaster University	United Kingdom
=98	=61	Nottingham Trent University	United Kingdom
=98	101–200	Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University	Saudi Arabia