The University has come 51st in the world and 1st in Germany for SDG 11—Sustainable Cities and Communities. Its performance in the global rankings has thus improved by 38 places year on year. With regard to this particular SDG, the compilers of the rankings focus on what universities are doing in their research, teaching and practical initiatives to integrate sustainability into urban development, improve access to basic services and enhance the quality of public spaces. The role that they are playing in the environmental impact of towns and cities and in the creation of a resilient urban environment is also assessed in this respect.
An impressive performance, particularly in research
The University of Bonn also came in the world’s top 200 for another goal, namely SDG 2—Zero Hunger. This category considers research and degree programs that cover the topics of fighting hunger, food sustainability and sustainable agriculture. The University of Bonn performed particularly well in the research element of this SDG.
“We’re especially delighted by our very good result for SDG 11,” explains Professor Annette Scheersoi, Vice Rector for Sustainability at the University of Bonn. “And our strong showing in other SDGs—in research in particular—demonstrates that we at the University of Bonn are already on the right track. We also came off very well in the QS Sustainability Ranking 2025. At the same time, however, the various rankings also provide us with some valuable insights into what issues we need to pay even greater attention to so that we can do even more to bring about a sustainable transformation.”
About the rankings
Published by the UK magazine “Times Higher Education” (THE), the THE Impact Rankings are the only global ones of their kind to mark universities against the UN SDGs. This was the third time that the University of Bonn had entered. To this end, THE assessed a university’s research output on each topic and required them to describe and provide evidence for a number of additional quantitative and qualitative criteria. All 2,526 participating universities from 130 countries enter at least one out of the seventeen categories.