THE Impact Rankings recognizes Concordia as one of the world’s 80 best in the three Sustainable Development Goals categories

Ensuring our planet’s sustainability — not only by reversing climate change but also countering poverty and hunger, championing gender equality, promoting economic growth and more — remains priority number one.

The United Nations developed its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 with that in mind, to provide “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.”

Ranking agencies have consistently recognized Concordia’s research, policies, practices and other efforts that focus on sustainability and advancing the SDGs. And once again the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, in its newly released edition, has acknowledged that commitment.

The 2024 THE Impact Rankings placed the university among the world’s best for six SDGs. That includes Concordia landing in the global top 80 for three goals: 26th for SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities; 51st for SDG 13 – Climate Action; and 80th for SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities.

In Canada, Concordia tied for first with eight other universities for SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy. It also placed fifth in the country for SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Thanks largely to the work done at the Next-Generation Cities Institute, one of Concordia’s strongest showings has regularly been for SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities.

For that category, the Impact Rankings bases its results in part on how an institution “looks beyond the traditional view of sustainability as being about stewardship of resources to examine the role of a university in sustaining and preserving the heritage of communities.”

For its 2024 edition, THE ranked 1,963 universities, up from 1,591 institutions in 2023. This year Concordia chose not to apply for the overall ranking but instead focused on submitting data and supporting evidence for six of the 17 SDGs.

The university improved its world standing in three SDGs and moved up in five of six nationally:

• SDG 5 – Gender Equality: 201-300 in world (same as 2023); tied for 13 in Canada (up from 17)
• SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy: 101-200 in world (up from 201-300); tied for 1 in Canada (up from 12)
• SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth: 101-200 in world (same as 2023); tied for 5 in Canada (up from 7)
• SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities: 80 in world (down from 40); 6 in Canada (down from 3)
• SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities: 26 in world (up from 44); 5 in Canada (up from 10)
• SDG 13 – Climate Action: 51 in world (up from 85); 6 in Canada (up from 7)

QS World University Rankings

In the newly released QS World University Rankings (WUR) 2025, Concordia placed in the global top 30 per cent, 415th out of 1,503 universities worldwide. While this is down from the university’s highest-ever ranking of 387 out of 1,497 institutions in 2023, it is still Concordia’s third highest WUR result — and the number of ranked institutions continues to grow each year.

Concordia placed 17th out of 30 Canadian universities, the same position as last year.

Importantly, Concordia ranked 96th worldwide, up one spot from last year, for the WUR’s Sustainability metric. This reflects the university’s climb into the world’s top 100 in the 2024 QS Sustainability Rankings, released last December, which evaluates a university’s social and environmental impact.

Concordia also ranked number two in Canada and 104th globally, up 18 spots from last year, for International Students Ratio. This metric is intended to assess a university’s attractiveness to international students.

See how the university and its programs rank among Canadian and international institutions.