THE University Impact Rankings 2025: Australian university leads, Europe declining as Asia improves

Western Sydney University (Australia) is number one overall for the fourth consecutive year in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2025, which ranks 2,526 universities from 130 countries or territories based on their progress towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), published on 18/06/2025.

It is followed by the University of Manchester (UK), the first European-ranked, in second place, and the Kyungpook National University (South Korea), ranked third.

Nine European universities are in the overall top 50 and two are in the overall top 10. European institutions lead in four out of 17 SDGs, down from six, as Asia improves.

"Indonesia’s Universitas Airlangga, in joint ninth place, is the most sustainable institution from an emerging economy. Asian universities claim more than half of all places in the rankings, and 10 out of the 17 individual SDG rankings are now led by an Asian university. Eight countries make their debut in the sustainability rankings this year: Botswana, Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Estonia, Maldives, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and…