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When it comes to reaching the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a more surprising university takes the top spot in South Africa.
According to the Times Higher Education 2023 Impact rankings, which spotlight universities across the world that are committed to sustainability, societal impact and innovation, the best university in South Africa is actually the University of Johannesburg (UJ).
BusinessTech notes that the rating assesses 1 591 universities from 112 countries, taking a close look at several indicators to provide a balanced comparison across four broad areas: research, stewardship, outreach and teaching.
Stewardship refers to universities being custodians of significant resources; not just physical resources, but also their employees, faculty and students. How they act as stewards is one of the key factors in delivering the SDGs.
Outreach refers to place, which THE said is critical in higher education and the work universities do with their local, regional, national and international communities. This is another key way that they can have an impact on sustainability.
Teaching, meanwhile, plays a critical role, both in ensuring that there are enough skilled practitioners to deliver on the SDGs, and in making sure that all alumni take forward the key lessons of sustainability into their future careers.
While research may be the traditional way that a university might help to deliver the SDGs, a broader consideration of these various indicators gives a better picture.
The university’s performance on the ranking is also hinged on meeting at least a couple of the 17 SDGs proposed by the UN, which include:
The universities submit data on as many of these SDGs as they are able to and then the THE uses the data as metrics to figure out the ranking.
The ranking for this year recognised UJ as the best university in South Africa and the 46th best university globally, with an overall score of 91,8. It was ranked number one internationally in the ‘no poverty’ indicator.
Then, the University of Pretoria (UP) was second in South Africa and 60th overall, while the University of Cape Town had to settle for the third place even though it is often ranked at the top of SA’s university rankings.
For the second year in a row, Australia’s Western Sydney University was named the best university on an international scale, with a score of 99,4.
Overall, in the top 100, the UK is the best-represented country with 26 universities, followed by Australia with 16.
[source:businesstech]
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