Huddersfield ranks in Top 5 in the world for reducing inequalities
A leading Higher Education publication has recognised the University of Huddersfield’s world-leading achievements in reducing inequality, promoting a peaceful and inclusive society, addressing sustainability issues, providing inclusive and quality education for all, and providing decent work and economic growth.
More than 1,500 institutions from across the world submitted data to Times Higher Education (THE) to participate in the THE Impact Rankings 2023.
The rankings, which are open to any university that teaches at either undergraduate or postgraduate level, are the first to measure global universities’ progress towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These goals have set out a vision for a world free from poverty, hunger and disease and all UN Member States have agreed to work towards achieving them by the year 2030.
In compiling the rankings, THE appraised several factors such as reducing inequalities, decent work and economic growth, and promoting a peaceful and inclusive society.
Reducing inequalities
On the issue of reducing inequalities, the University of Huddersfield has performed strongly (SDG 10 – reduced inequalities), with a rise in the rankings to 5th in the world. SDG 10 tracks factors such as cutting-edge research that helps to address inequalities, and application and admission rates to the University’s own courses of under-represented groups. These can include newly settled refugee students, alongside ethnic minorities, low-income students, those whose families have not had the opportunity of higher education, women, LGBT students, and disabled students. Huddersfield has increased its number of students from developing countries and its research on relevant topics, which has contributed to this achievement.
Huddersfield is in the top 300 for the category SDG17 – Partnership for the Goals. This metric rewards institutions with dedicated courses that address sustainability and have dedicated educational outreach activities for the wider community.
In addition, Huddersfield has performed well in SDG16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. The main aim of this goal is to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. It has also increased its score for SDG4: Quality Education.
Huddersfield has also increased its score in the SDG8 category which assesses decent work and economic growth. Ranked in the top 50 in the world, Huddersfield has promoted inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all.
At the University of Huddersfield, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Thornton commented:
“I am delighted with the outcomes of this year’s THE Impact Rankings and the world-leading results reflect the hard work and dedication of our staff and students in making a difference to our wider society. We are committed to providing the real living wage and training and developing all staff. We have some of the best trained cleaning staff and are committed to developing all managers with our Chartered Management Institute (CMI) initiative which will see all our managers achieving Chartered Manager status.
"We have always implemented an inclusive and welcoming environment here at the University of Huddersfield and our diverse student and staff population reflects this. Our research helps ensure we have a positive impact nationally and across the globe.
"We will continue to build on these positive results and work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”