In a leading position in the QS Sustainability Rankings
Responding to the increasing importance of environmental protection, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) followed the example of Times Higher Education and started to publish its own Sustainability University Rankings in 2022. During the assessment, QS ranked the higher education institutions according to a total of eight indicators for environmental and social impacts, as well as governance (sustainable institutions, sustainable education, sustainable research, equality, knowledge exchange, impact of education, graduates’ employment and opportunities, and the quality of life). A detailed summary of the QS methodology is available on this page.
After last year’s 700 higher education institutions, nearly 1,400 institutions are featured in this year’s rankings of the world’s top universities, including 493 institutions from Europe and seven from Hungary. Eötvös Loránd University has jumped ahead more than 300 places to take the 259th place in the overall ranking compared to last year’s results. Sharing this place with the University of Szeged, ELTE tops the list of Hungarian universities compiled on the basis of sustainability aspects.
Regarding the three categories taken into account, ELTE achieved the best result in the evaluation of university governance,
where it is ranked 79th. In terms of environmental impacts, it is ranked 227th, while in terms of social impacts, it is 432nd. Regarding the first two aspects, it also ranks first among domestic universities.
ELTE believes that the global problem of climate change requires global solutions, but it is important that countries and minor organisations, including universities, concentrate their efforts in this field. Climate protection is also an important factor in the Institution Development Plan of ELTE. Sustainability education is part of the education portfolio of all nine faculties, and the university strongly supports research in the fields of environmental protection and sustainability. ELTE is a founding member of the European university alliance called CHARM-EU, the first master’s degree programme of which is also entitled “Global Challenges of Sustainability”. The university also takes part in the international project UNI-ECO, and together with the University of Montpellier, the University of Barcelona, Trinity College Dublin, Utrecht University, as well as the university network UNIMED and the non-profit organisation CESIE, it strives to make the aspects of social and environmental sustainability integrated parts of the modern university ethos, thus contributing to a more sustainable operation of the campuses. The fields include the reduction of water consumption, as well as the development of energy management, sustainable procurement processes, and waste management. In September 2023, the “Marketing Going Green” Programme was launched with the support of the Hungarian National Talent Programme of Hungary, at the Savaria Department of Business Administration, the Faculty of Social Sciences, on the Szombathely campus of ELTE. The one-year programme is aimed at revealing the aspects of sustainability and sustainable development, and the impact of green considerations on the operation of businesses.
Further countries representing Hungary in the QS Sustainability ranking for 2024 include the University of Debrecen (No. 372), the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (No. 485), the University of Pécs (No. 651), Széchenyi István University in Győr (No. 901–920), and the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (No. 1201+). The world ranking is topped by the University of Toronto, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Manchester, in this order. The first ten places are held by three Canadian, two British, two Australian, one New Zealand, one American, and one Swedish institution.
The detailed results of the QS Sustainability Rankings 2024 can be browsed by country/territory and university on this page, and you can read more about ELTE’s position in domestic and international rankings in this summary.