Times Higher Education Impact Rankings announcement 2023

The University of Manchester named number 1 in the UK, number 1 in Europe and second in the world for social and environmental impact

During the Times Higher Education (THE) Innovation and Impact Summit the THE University Impact Rankings were announced at 11.30am on Thursday 1 June. This league table is the first to try and measure universities’ social impact across their full range of activities – their research, teaching, public engagement and campus operations – and measures social and environmental impact towards the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The University of Manchester has today been named top in both the UK and Europe, and second in the world for meaningful contributions towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) in the 2023 THE University Impact Rankings.

As well as ranking first in the UK, The University of Manchester is also the only UK institution in the global top 10 and the only university in the world to rank in the top ten in every year the Impact Rankings have been running. 

In addition, the University attained the top spot for SDG 15 – Life on Land and was third for SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production.

Manchester’s top ranking comes from a record assessment of 1,705 universities from 115 countries/regions.

This fantastic news cements our position as a leading global university as we approach our 200-year anniversary in 2024, demonstrates how we’re delivering against our core goals and living up to our values. It’s essential that we seize the opportunity to communicate the rankings results to our full range of internal and external audiences. There are seven key audience groups that we’re aiming to reach: staff, students, alumni, regional stakeholders, national stakeholders and international stakeholders.