11 December 2024 at 10:00 am
New Zealand universities continue to top world sustainability rankings
QS has released the third edition of the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability. All eight of New Zealand's universities rank in the top 500 this year, giving the country the highest average score in the rankings.
The 2025 QS World University Rankings: Sustainability were released yesterday, highlighting that New Zealand’s universities continue to lead the way when it comes to environmental, social and governance sustainability. The rankings by QS Quacquarelli Symonds are in their third year and measure an institution’s ability to tackle the world’s greatest sustainability challenges.
New Zealand came out top country overall based on the average score of our universities for Environmental Impact and Governance, in addition to the Equality and Environmental Education lenses (among countries with at least eight universities ranked). This is good news for universities as they look to attract students to their campuses especially as QS Destination: Australia and New Zealand report 2024, found that 63% of students interested in studying in New Zealand say environmental sustainability was very or extremely important.
Ben Sowter, QS Vice President, said: “New Zealand’s higher education sector has long been a world leader in sustainability and this year’s results show yet again that the country punches above its weight, surpassing many of its international competitors.
“However, this year’s results also show that universities in other countries are improving their sustainability efforts, with New Zealand’s institutions advised to enhance their offers in areas of governance, employability and outcomes and health and wellbeing.”
The 2025 rankings showcase over 1,740 universities from 107 countries and territories. This reflects significant growth from last year’s rankings which included 1,397 institutions across 95 locations and more than 1,000 institutions since the inaugural rankings in 2022.
Jessica Turner, CEO of QS said that “The QS Sustainability Rankings provide a critical benchmarking tool for universities to evaluate their progress across areas such as knowledge exchange, equality, environmental impact, and governance. As more institutions engage with this framework, the increasing competitiveness of the ranking reflects the growing commitment globally to advancing sustainability in higher education.”
The full rankings can be found on the QS website here: QS World University Rankings: Sustainability.*
QS Quacquarelli Symonds
QS Quacquarelli Symonds is the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insight to the global higher education sector, whose mission is to empower motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfil their potential through educational achievement, international mobility, and career development.
The QS World University Rankings portfolio, inaugurated in 2004, is the world’s most popular source of comparative data about university performance.
