Updated October 2026 · Prepared by Edhitch’s rankings advisory team
What are the sustainability rankings for universities?
The two that matter for Indian universities are THE’s Sustainability Impact Ratings — the 2026 relaunch of the THE Impact Rankings, built on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals — and the QS Sustainability Rankings, which score environmental impact, social impact and governance. The QS score also counts for 5% of the QS World University Rankings.
THE Sustainability Impact Ratings (formerly THE Impact Rankings)
For 2026, THE relaunched the Impact Rankings as the Sustainability Impact Ratings. The methodology is unchanged; data submission is now open to members of THE’s Sustainability Impact Network.
| Element | How it works |
|---|---|
| Scope | 17 tables, one per SDG, plus an overall table |
| Overall score | SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) at 22%, plus the institution’s best three other SDGs at 26% each |
| Four pillars | Research, stewardship, outreach and teaching |
| Measures | Research metrics from publication data; continuous metrics usually normalised by size; policy and initiative metrics backed by evidence, with credit for public evidence |
| Missing data | Scored as zero |
| Eligibility | Any university teaching at undergraduate or postgraduate level — no research threshold |
2026 results: 1,646 universities from 116 countries, published 23 June 2026. India was the second most represented country with 110 ranked universities. Lovely Professional University (joint 23rd), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (joint 37th) and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (joint 74th) led India.
QS Sustainability Rankings
| Category (weight) | Lenses and weights |
|---|---|
| Environmental Impact (45%) | Environmental Education 17% · Environmental Research 13% · Environmental Sustainability 15% |
| Social Impact (45%) | Employability and Opportunities 11% · Equality 12% · Health and Wellbeing 5% · Impact of Education 7% · Knowledge Exchange 10% |
| Governance (10%) | Good Governance 10% |
2026 edition: released 18 November 2025, ranking more than 2,000 universities. India had 103 ranked universities — fourth by count after the US, China and the UK — with IIT Delhi first in India at 205. Institutions submit data through QS HUB; QS supplements it with its own reputation surveys and public data. Universities eligible for QS’s world, regional or subject rankings are assessed automatically.
One evidence base, four frameworks
| Evidence | THE Sustainability Impact | QS Sustainability | NAAC | NIRF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental policies and practices | SDGs 6, 7, 12, 13 | Environmental Sustainability | Criterion 7 | — |
| Inclusion and equality data | SDGs 4, 5, 10 | Equality | Criterion 5 | OI |
| Sustainability research | Research pillar | Environmental Research | Criterion 3 | RP |
| Outreach and community work | Outreach pillar | Knowledge Exchange | Criterion 3 (extension) | — |
| Governance and ethics policies | SDG 16 | Good Governance | Criterion 6 | — |
Where Indian universities lose marks
- Policies that exist but cannot be shown. Evidence is in committee files, not in public documents the rankers can verify.
- Missing data scored as zero. In THE, a metric left blank scores nothing — and many are left blank for lack of a record.
- The wrong SDGs. Institutions submit the goals they care about, not the three where their evidence is strongest.
- Rebuilt every year. Evidence is gathered from scratch each cycle instead of maintained.
- Disconnected from NAAC. Criterion 7 evidence and SDG evidence describe the same work, collected twice.
Master Data Map’s sustainability module
Master Data Map keeps sustainability evidence the way it keeps accreditation evidence — continuously, mapped to every framework that asks for it, on the same record that produces your NAAC, NIRF, THE and QS data.
| Capability | What it does |
|---|---|
| SDG evidence vault | Every policy, initiative and outcome tagged to the SDG metrics it serves, with public-evidence links ready for THE. |
| SDG selection modelling | Scores your evidence across all 17 SDGs and shows which three, with SDG 17, give the strongest overall result. |
| Gap finder | Lists every THE metric and QS lens with missing evidence — before a blank becomes a zero. |
| QS Sustainability data | Prepares QS HUB data for the environmental, social and governance lenses from the institutional record. |
| NAAC Criterion 7 link | Reuses the same evidence for NAAC environment, inclusion and best-practice metrics. |
Frequently asked questions
What happened to the THE Impact Rankings?
For 2026, THE relaunched the Impact Rankings as the Sustainability Impact Ratings. The methodology is unchanged, and data submission is open to members of THE’s Sustainability Impact Network.
How is the THE Sustainability Impact overall score calculated?
SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) counts for 22%, and the institution’s best three other SDGs count for 26% each. Each SDG is assessed across research, stewardship, outreach and teaching.
How did India perform in THE’s 2026 sustainability ratings?
India was the second most represented country with 110 ranked universities. Lovely Professional University, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research led India.
What is the QS Sustainability Rankings methodology?
Environmental Impact (45%), Social Impact (45%) and Governance (10%), made up of lenses such as Environmental Education, Environmental Research, Equality, Knowledge Exchange and Good Governance.
Does sustainability affect the QS World University Rankings?
Yes. Sustainability is a 5% lens in the QS World University Rankings, drawn from the QS Sustainability Rankings.
How does Master Data Map help with sustainability rankings?
Master Data Map keeps an SDG evidence vault, models which SDGs give the strongest THE result, finds missing evidence before submission, prepares QS Sustainability data, and reuses the same evidence for NAAC Criterion 7.
Sustainability Evidence Review
30-minute session with our rankings team. We’ll map your sustainability evidence to THE and QS and show which SDGs to submit.
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