The sustainability ranking called THE Impact Rankings is prepared every year by Times Higher Education in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In the latest ranking published on June 12, 2024, the University of Szeged ranked 43rd in the "Peace, justice and strong institutions" thematic list. In addition, SZTE made great progress in several other subcategories, but it also improved in the overall ranking: it moved up to the 301-400th place, thus taking shared first place in Hungary.
In the sustainability ranking called THE Impact Rankings, SZTE achieves excellent results year after year. In 2019, Times Higher Education launched an evaluation of the world's higher education institutions according to their economic and social impact and responsibility taken based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) formulated by the United Nations. In this year's ranking, SZTE moved ahead in the international field in the overall list, which ranked 1,963 institutions, nearly 400 more than last year. Thus, it obtained the 301-400 place, which also means a shared first place among the 11 Hungarian institutions.
The University of Szeged also achieved excellent results in the individual SDG rankings. On the thematic list drawn up along the 16th sustainable development goal ("Peace, justice and strong institutions"), it ranked 43rd in the world, improving by more than 40 places, which also means Hungary's highest ranking on THE's sustainability lists. Its results improved by several hundred in the "Quality education" (SDG 4) and "Reduced inequalities" (SDG 10) sub-rankings, while making significant progress for example in the "Clean water and sanitation" (SDG 6) and "Sustainable cities and communities" (SDG 11) areas.
In addition to the overall ranking, the University of Szeged is in the leading position in 11 SDG categories this year, in absolute or shared first place in Hungary, for example in the no poverty, zero hunger, quality education, reduced inequalities, climate action, affordable and clean energy individual lists.
SZTE is committed to achieving the sustainable development goals formulated by the UN. The institution not only adapts the scientific and technological results that help the efficient and sustainable use of physical resources, but with its educational, research and development, innovation, as well as service activities, it contributes to the birth of new results and works to increase the future generation's commitment to the preservation of environmental, social, and cultural values. The latter is served, among other things, by the cooperative courses on the subject of sustainability, the scope of which is now being expanded by 15 new courses developed by 7 university faculties with the support of the RRF 2.1.2 Complex Digital Model Change – intelligent degree change tender, or the "Introduction to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" online course developed jointly with partner institutions of the Hungarian Universities Sustainability Platform and the "UI GreenMetric Online Course on Sustainability" course developed in international cooperation. In June this year, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a company certifying higher education activities, also recognized the University of Szeged for its commitment to sustainability and its outstanding activities in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) fields: at the QS EduData Summit 2024, Quacquarelli Symonds awarded SZTE with the 'Commitment to Sustainability' award.
