Being internationally recognised for its role in sustainable transition. Promoting the efforts undertaken by the entire university community and the university itself. Benefiting from the attractiveness of the Impact Ranking developed in 2019 by Times Higher Education (THE) These are among the motivations which led UCLouvain to apply in 2020. This is the only world ranking measuring higher education institutions’ implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the UN..
UCLouvain submitted nearly 250 indicators relating to the seventeen SDGs, allowing the most complete and balanced comparison possible with other institutions in the fields of teaching, research, and management. The focus is mainly on results and impacts such as contributions to local communities.
Graded by the TES for the first time, UCLouvain was immediately ranked first in Belgium, and between 101st and 200th position compared to 1,115 participating universities worldwide. UCLouvain came at the top of the table in several areas:
- UCLouvain excels in terms of innovation (28th place worldwide, score 97.5/100) thanks to publication and promotion of its research (patents, spin-offs) in fields related to sustainable transition
- UCLouvain’s second best score was in terms of health and well-being for the work carried out by the student support service, its inclusion policy, and the broad social assistance offered by UCLouvain (mental health, support); and collaborations in the field of health (Univers santé, collaborations with healthcare institutions)
- UCLouvain also scored high in terms of sustainable and non-discriminatory working conditions (decent work and economic growth)
Why participate ?
“Our participation makes it possible firmly to commit the university to the objectives of sustainable development,” explains Marthe Nyssens, transition pro-rector at UCLouvain. “UCLouvain has an ethical duty and an important social responsibility to embark on a transition to a sustainable society. It should be at the forefront of society’s concerns. In this sense, placing ourselves in relation to others, through this ranking, makes it possible to publicly signal our commitment, to encourage us to go even further in embodying the objectives of sustainable development in our practices, to innovate even more.”
Below are UCLouvain’s results for all the SDGs. They show that the university (black dot) is above average for all SDGs and in the top 25% (upper rectangle) for eight of them.
