The University of Manchester has today been named top in both the UK and Europe, and second in the world for meaningful contributions towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) in the 2023 THE University Impact Rankings.

Manchester’s top ranking comes from a record assessment of 1,705 universities from 115 countries/regions. As well as ranking first in the UK, The University of Manchester is also the only UK institution in the global top 10 and the only university in the world to rank in the top ten in every year the Impact Rankings have been running. In addition, the University attained the top spot for SDG 15 – Life on Land and was third for SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production.

The ranking, now in its fifth year, is the world’s only one that measures universities’ contributions to the UN SDGs and assesses their commitment to sustainability across four broad areas: research, stewardship, outreach and teaching.

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester said:

Dr Julian Skyrme, Director of Social Responsibility at The University of Manchester who leads the institution’s entry to the ranking, said: “The evidence we submitted covers work from a wide range of our functions – our cultural institutions, equality, diversity and inclusion, widening participation, research impact, public and civic engagement, the student experience and reporting on the SDGs. Everyone in our University community should therefore take enormous pride in this result.”