Stepping into the leading university of sustainability, Walailak University continues to rise to the top 101-200 in the world, ranked joint 5th in Thailand, and has 6 SDGs in the world’s Top 100 in THE Impact Rankings 2024.
On June 12, 2024, Times Higher Education (THE), a famous world university ranking institute from England, published the results of the ranking of universities that work to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in line with the United Nations’ guidelines or THE Impact Rankings for the year 2024, with 2,152 higher education institutions from 125 countries worldwide participating in the ranking, and a total of 77 Thai higher education institutions participating in the ranking.
The results show that Walailak University is ranked 101-200 in the world, ranked joint 5th in Thailand, with a total score of 84.6 out of 100, which is considered the best ranking ever in this category, improving from the 401-600 ranking last year. And there are outstanding achievements according to the SDG Sustainable Development Goals ranked in the Top 100 of the world, with 6 SDGs: SDG2, SDG4, SDG6, SDG11, SDG14 and SDG17.
If looking at the scores for SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation (water management and sanitation), it was found that it received 77.9 points, ranked 55th in the world and ranked 1st in Thailand out of 867 universities, improving by 3 places from last year.
SDG11 – Sustainable cities and Communities (cities and human societies that are safe, inclusive, ready for change and sustainable) received 82.6 points, ranked 63rd in the world, ranked 2nd in Thailand out of 1,026 universities, improving by 36 places from last year.
SDG14 – Life Below Water (marine resources) received 83.7 points, ranked 31st in the world, ranked 2nd in Thailand out of 628 universities, improving by 27 places compared to last year.
As for SDG17 – Partnerships for the Goals (Partnerships for Sustainable Development) and SDG4 – Quality Education (Quality of Education), which scored in the world’s Top 100 for the first time, with scores of 90.9, 75.7, ranked 81st and 85th in the world, respectively, ranked 4th in Thailand. And SDG 2 – Zero Hunger (Eradicate Hunger) scored 72.8, ranked 91st in the world, ranked 5th in Thailand.
For the ranking, the indicators were assessed in 4 main areas: 1) Research 2) University policies and practices 3) Connectivity with Thai and global society and 4) Teaching and learning.
In 2024, more universities from Thailand submitted data for the ranking, reflecting that Thai universities are more interested in SDGs. This year, Mahidol University, Chulalongkorn University, and Chiang Mai University ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in Thailand, respectively.