London, Oct. 26 (CNA) National Taiwan University (NTU) placed 69th in the first-ever ranking that measures the world's top universities based on their outward impact on social and environmental issues published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) on Wednesday.
Of the 700 universities included in the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2023, NTU was the only higher education institution from Taiwan in the top 200, according to the report.
Meanwhile, NTU was ranked 3rd among universities in East Asia.
The ranking includes institutions from 71 countries and territories, including 135 from the United States, 68 from the United Kingdom, 37 from mainland China, and 11 from Taiwan.
QS created the new classification to show how universities are taking action to address the world's environmental and social challenges, according to the website of the British company, which analyzes higher education institutions around the world.
It is saddening to read that the world's progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) -- adopted by the United Nations in 2015 to realize human rights for all by 2030 -- has slowed for the second year in a row, QS said in a statement issued in September.
"We believe that the incredible momentum for progress across the global higher education sector can help to reverse this post-pandemic slowdown," the statement read.
The University of California, Berkeley in the U.S. was named the global leader, followed by two Canadian institutions -- the University of Toronto in second place and the University of British Columbia third -- and University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom.
Two Australian institutions, UNSW Sydney and University of Sydney, tied in the fifth place, followed by University of Tokyo in Japan, University of Pennsylvania in the U.S., Yale University in the U.S., and University of Auckland in New Zealand.
The ranking is based on indicators that evaluate the social and environmental impact of universities as centers of education and research as well as a major employer with the operational costs and sustainability challenges of any large and complex organization, QS said.
The criteria include research collaboration between the universities and countries eligible to receive Official Development Assistance (ODA) and non-ODA recipients, as well as educational provisions that incorporate social and environmental priorities, among others, according to QS.
