Uppsala University comes 32nd in sustainability ranking
Uppsala University is ranked 32nd, six places lower than last year. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt, Uppsala University.
QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) has presented its fourth annual global ranking focusing on the sustainable development performance of universities, the QS Sustainability Ranking. Uppsala University comes 32nd in the world and 2nd in Sweden.
Lund University tops the list. The University of Toronto comes second and University College London is third.
Uppsala University comes in 32nd place. This is 6 places down on last year.
“Having said that, the ranking includes 300 more universities this year. Among Swedish institutions, only Lund University ranks higher and a total of more than 2,000 institutions are ranked, so despite the decline, 32nd place should be regarded as a fine achievement,” says Emma Östlund, Controller in the University Administration, Uppsala University.
Three broad categories
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) is a commercial operator with headquarters in London that has published the QS World University Rankings since 2004. QS launched its first Sustainability Ranking in 2022. The ranking is based on the UN’s development goals.
The ranking is divided into three broad categories:
- In environmental impact, Uppsala University comes in 38th place overall.
- In social impact, Uppsala University is ranked 53rd.
- In governance, Uppsala University comes 19th.
Mixed results
The three broad categories are in turn composed of various sub-indicators. Uppsala University’s performance during the year is mixed, with the ranking moving forwards in some sub-indicators and backwards in others. The sub-indicators where the University is ranked highest are
- environmental research (5)
- health and wellbeing (4)
- environmental education (13).
The sub-indicators where the University performs worst are
- employability and opportunities (231)
- environmental sustainability (119)
- equality (112).
“The University’s worst sub-indicator, 231st place, still means a result within the sub-indicator that is better than more than 88 per cent of the universities covered by the ranking,” Östlund points out.
Zoom presentation of rankings
The QS Sustainability Ranking ends the 2025 ranking year. In addition to the QS Sustainability Ranking reported above, Uppsala University primarily follows the three largest international ranking lists:
- QS World University Rankings
- Times Higher Education (THE)
- Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), the ‘Shanghai Ranking’.
For members of staff who want to know more about how Uppsala University has fared in these rankings this year, there will be a digital presentation on Friday 28 November at 10:00.
Emma Östlund, who monitors the ranking lists and Uppsala University’s position, will give the presentation.
Read more about the Zoom presentation here.
Anders Berndt
Results for Swedish universities
Five universities in Sweden are listed in the top 100 in the QS Sustainability Ranking 2026:
- Lund University in 1st place.
- Uppsala University in 32nd place.
- University of Gothenburg in 50th place.
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 53rd place.
- Chalmers University of Technology in 64th place.
The ranking is based on factors including self-reported data from Uppsala University, research data via Elsevier and reputation measurements conducted by QS. Other sources of data are used to support the rankings, including data from the United Nations, the World Bank, UNESCO and Yale University.