A mix of student-led projects and faculty research helped Queen’s climb to sixth globally in the 2025 Impact Rankings.
The Time’s Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings are an annual ranking evaluating institutions around the world on their commitments to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The analysis with this year’s list released on June 18 provides a ranking of individual SDGs, as well as an overall national and international ranking.
The University has participated in the Impact Rankings since its both SDG 14—Life Below Water and SDG 16—Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, while ranking in the top ten twice more, including a fourth-place finish in SDG 11— Sustainable Cities and Communities and a sixth-place finish in SDG 15—Life on Land.
With food security an issue for one in three Kingstonian families, with Graduate students being particularly effected, the University outlined some of its initiatives that landed it first in SDG 2—Zero Hunger. inception in 2020, with a group of staff and faculty comprising various initiatives and projects taking place at the University to be considered in its evaluation.
In a Queen’s Gazette article, the University cited both faculty projects, including a research initiative aiming to develop natural alternatives to chemical fertilizers, as well as student led ones, such as Queen’s Vertical Farming Teams project creating Canada’s first vertical farm designed by a postsecondary institution. , that grows plants without soil.
In an interview with The Journal, Principal and ViceChancellor Patrick Deane stressed that while success in the rankings can be beneficial for Queen’s overall reputation, the rankings’ importance goes beyond that.
“They are really helpful in that they provide you with a framework for interpreting the work that goes on in the University, and that means you can assess how much difference you’re making on those big global issues, and you can also organize yourself to be more effective,” Deane said.
Alongside the importance of the rankings, Deane also touched on why the SDGs themselves are something the University values.
“If you look at the 17 SDGs, they cover almost every major issue facing humanity at the moment. And so, if the University wishes to contribute to finding solutions to those issues—and if we are not interested in doing that, it’s hard to know what we are interested in doing—it’s helpful to have a framework that focuses your mind.”
Looking ahead, Deane hopes that integrating the SDGs will naturally become part of students’ daily lives and mindsets, with the ultimate goal of making evidence-gathering a routine aspect of the university’s operations, rather than something done solely for rankings
“Students are very active in this community, doing things. I would like to see more and more of that work integrated in the curriculum, credit-earning and credit-bearing, and the whole educational process be modified by the incorporation of that kind of experiential work,” Deane said.
Just a day after the release of the THE Impact Rankings, the QS World University Rankings published their annual list, with Queen’s University climbing two spots to secure the 191st position globally. The QS World Ranking evaluates universities on academic reputation, employment outcomes, sustainability, and other metrics. Each category is given a score of one through 100.
Tags
Impact ranking, Times Higher Education
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