By Howard Bokser
Concordia's institutional commitment to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been recognized in the newly released 2021 Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings. The university placed 62nd out of 1,115 institutions worldwide, a significant increase from 2020, when Concordia ranked in the 101-200 category out of 766 institutions.
Concordia landed in the world's top 25 in three SDG categories: Reduced Inequalities, which seeks to lessen relative income, social, political and other disparities within and among countries, Climate Action, which encourages urgent steps to combat climate change and its impacts; and Sustainable Cities and Communities, which strives for more inclusive, safe, resilient and eco-friendly urban settings.
The THE Impact Rankings aim to quantify the higher education sector's progress toward achieving the 17 UN SDGs, which include tackling climate change, poverty, inequality and resource depletion. The new rankings acknowledge Concordia's longstanding dedication to confronting these global challenges.
"Concordia's profound engagement with socially responsible initiatives underscores our strong commitment to advancing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals," says Concordia President Graham Carr.
"In the past year alone despite the pandemic we launched the Next-Generation Cities Institute, our Sustainability Action Plan and the President's Task Force on Anti-Black Racism, in addition to opening the LEED-certified Applied Science Hub that will support advanced research directly linked to many areas of the SDGs. It's gratifying that Times Higher Education recognizes the contributions that our Concordia community is making to address these important global challenges. And we're enormously proud to be ranked among the world's best."
Concordia ranked ninth among 23 Canadian universities, up from 14th out of 19 last year, and second in Quebec and second among comprehensive universities.
Importantly, Concordia tied for first in Canada for SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, and in the top five for SDG 13: Climate Action (4th) and SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities (5th).
The four SDGs THE used to determine Concordia's placement globally were:
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities 12th out of 669
- SDG 13: Climate Action 13th out of 556
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities 24th out of 656
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals 61st out of 1,154
This is the third annual edition of the Impact Rankings and the second year Concordia has participated.
The university's considerable improvement came despite an increase in the total number of institutions ranked this year, which grew by 46 per cent, and for the number of universities ranked for the individual SDGs, which rose between 38 and 58 per cent.
For the full listings, see the 2021 Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings.
