Dalhousie University Sees Significant Improvement in QS Sustainability Ranking 2024 Across Various Categories
Dalhousie placed 109 in the world in the latest QS Sustainability Rankings, improving its scores in nearly all the measured categories since the inaugural ranking was released last fall.
Dal’s most substantial improvements in the ranking — which doubled in size to 1,403 participating universities this year — were in Health & Well-Being, Knowledge Exchange, Environmental Research, and Impact of Education.
Dal ranked 15th among Canadian universities.
QS World University Rankings: Sustainability was introduced last year to assess how universities are taking action on the world’s greatest environmental, social, and governance challenges.
The ranking evaluates universities based on three broad categories, Environmental Impact, Social Impact, and — new this year — Governance. Each category contains performance “lenses” based on indicators related to specific United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Dalhousie tied for 107 in the world for Environmental Impact, tied at 136 for Social Impact, and tied at 200 for Governance.
Environmental Impact
Environmental Impact attempts to capture the efforts universities are making through research into areas such as the environment and climate science, a strategic focus on climate mitigation, and how impactful alumni have been in creating a more sustainable world.
Dalhousie’s score for Environmental Impact improved this year to 73.6 out of 100. This places the university 15th among the 31 Canadian universities that participated.
The university’s score within the performance lens of Environmental Research improved to a stunning 96.2 this year, ranking Dalhousie 75th in the world for research in areas aligned to specific UN SDGs. Among Canadian universities Dal ranks eighth.
Dal tied for 53 globally for the lens of Environmental Education, with a score of 81.1 — ranking fifth nationally.
Social Impact
The category of Social Impact recognizes the efforts universities are making to transform society for the better through equality measures, sharing the knowledge providing strong outcomes to graduates, and ensuring that students have a great experience on campus.
Dalhousie’s score also improved for Social Impact, scoring of 85.4 out of 100, which places it 14th in Canada.
The university continued to perform well under the lens of Equality — the university tied at 101 globally (91.4/100). Nationally, the university’s efforts toward Equality have earned eighth place.
A score of 93 in Health & Well-Being, earned Dalhousie a tie at 141 globally. For Impact of Education, the university scored 81.9 and ranked 159 globally.
Governance
In the category of Governance, a new category this year, the university performed well with a score of 85.5 and placed 19th among Canadian universities.
This category recognizes universities who have good governance imbedded throughout their policies, procedures and strategy. It looks at the centrality of ethics within the institution, good hiring practices, open decision making, existence of a student’s union, and other related indicators.
National strength
According to QS, Canada is the world’s most sustainable higher education system by some measures. The University of Toronto placed first globally this year and Canada had more universities in the world’s top 10 than any other country or territory.