Focus on SDGs Puts AAU in International Top 5

There was great enthusiasm at Aalborg University when the internationally recognized Times Higher Education Impact Rankings last year had the university in ninth place, but this year AAU has already climbed further up the list. Almost 2000 universities across the globe have been measured and weighed on their contribution to the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and in the recently published rankings AAU is the best in the EU and No. 4 in the world.

- This is a result we can really be proud of, but it is also only due to the fact that the ambitions of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals are being worked on in a broad way. We are advancing because we have a large number of scientific publications in sustainability, and because the university is generally integrated into the surrounding society, for example when our students do projects with companies, says Pro-rector Anne Marie Kanstrup.

The annual Times Higher Education Impactt Rankings rate the universities and their efforts within the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. It is a broad assessment on everything from research on sustainable technologies to education, social conditions and equality to the important work of reducing CO2 emissions in buildings, canteens, etc. Thus, it is research activities as well as the way a university attends to its surroundings that count in the overall picture. This can be seen, for example, in the assessment of SDG 14, ”Life below water”, where AAU has an overall third place due to projects like research on Arctic ecosystems, a Danish marine research meeting and the campus areas' own management of rainwater and wastewater. And in SDG 11, ”Sustainable cities and communities”, AAU has been rewarded for making climate-friendly commuting a central point in the university's climate action plan.

On the SDG of quality education AAU in now No. 1 in the world among the 1.961 universities measured on this parameter.

- The fact that we are No. 1 in the world on quality education is due to our research in the area. We are measured by the number of publications in the field of learning, the reach of our papers and how much they are cited by other researchers, explains Pro-rector Anne Marie Kanstrup.

There are a number of different international rankings, and AAU appears on most of these lists that in recent years have become important parameters in the battle to attract researchers, students and partners both nationally and internationally. Both Aalborg University and the University of Southern Denmark appear in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.

CONTACT:

• Anne Marie Kanstrup, Pro-rector, Aalborg University. Tel: 99 40 73 80; prorektor@aau.dk
• Press contact: Tor Bagger, AAU Communication & Public Affairs.  Tel. +45 30 17 31 65; toba@adm.aau.dk
• Senior Consultant on Rankings: Birte C. Hornemann, Aalborg University Library. Tel: +45 99 40 96 42; bch@aub.aau.dk