Having focused in the last issue on current political challenges to universities and their mission, it is refreshing for me this time to be able to point to evidence that, at our university, the commitment to that mission is unabated and continuing to have a positive impact in the world at large. I am writing this on June 17, hours after it was announced in Istanbul that for the fifth straight year Queen’s has placed in the top 10 in the , rising from eighth last year to sixth place overall and tied as the top North American institution in a pool of more than 2,500 institutions in 130 countries.
Since Shanghai Jiao Tong University issued the first Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2003, university league tables have increasingly become a fixture across the globe, notwithstanding concerns about their effect on the academic enterprise and their tendency to reinforce a conception of institutionalized higher learning that favours wealthier nations. The THE Impact Rankings, which began in 2018–19, adopted a different methodology that was calculated to level the playing field: universities’ societal impact would be assessed using the as a framework.
It was a welcome initiative, shifting emphasis from what universities simply do to what they are for and providing opportunities not only for comparison but co-operation between institutions in service to a broader cause. The Impact Rankings recognized that the UN SDGs had the potential to be a kind of lingua franca for measuring the impact of universities worldwide and they built upon that insight. And in parallel, the International Association of Universities launched in 2018 its , again using the SDGs as an organizing taxonomy. Queen’s is now part of that Global Cluster, focusing on “Zero Hunger,” the second of the SDGs, and working in partnership with institutions around the world. In the recent round of the Impact Rankings, we have placed first in the world for that goal.
The point of all this is that, for Queen’s, the decision to participate in the THE Impact Rankings has brought many benefits, the most obvious, though not necessarily most important, being heightened profile and reputational gain. Perhaps more significantly, though, it has also given us a framework for both assessing and strategically directing our efforts to address global challenges. It has enabled us to become more intentional and therefore more effective in our engagement with the world. And perhaps most critically, it has demanded and facilitated active collaboration with institutions and agencies far afield as well as closer to home.
The 17th SDG focuses on implementing and revitalizing the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, and every institution participating in the Impact Rankings must report on their co-operative efforts. This is as it should be. While one aspect of the university mission focuses on the actions and aspirations of individuals, there is a greater, communal cause that must be served: social justice, human well-being, and a vibrant future for the planet and all the life it sustains.
Originally published in the Summer 2025 ĂŰĚŇ´«Ă˝ Alumni Review