Sustainability Performance of Turkish Universities: A Research on THE Impact Rankings

Abstract

Sustainability has been on the international agenda since the 1970s with the leading role of the United Nations and universities are assuming an increasing responsibility to realize the sustainability goals. In order to make these efforts more visible, measurable and comparable, universities have increasingly taken part in international sustainability rankings. In this context, the aim of this study is to analyze the sustainability performance of Turkish universities concerning the global sustainability rankings. To this end, Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, were used as data source. In the light of this data, the development of SDG-based priorities, performance scores and rankings of Turkish universities over the years has been examined, and detailed analyzes analyses for 2023 are also included. The findings imply that Turkish universities are performing better in sustainability with each passing year, but there is still much room for improvement.