QS Rankings 2026: The QS World University Rankings, released on Thursday featured the top institutions around the world, evaluated on various parameters such as Sustainability Scores, Employability rate, Research and Discovery etc,. The United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) continue to dominate the overall rankings across all categories.
Sustainability Score, which assesses an institution's performance in managing sustainability-related risks and opportunities shows how the top institutions have worked towards environmental, social and governance cause.
Here are the top 10 Institutions according to the QS World University Rankings along with their sustainability scores:
- Number one on the overall rank list is the United State's Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a sustainability score of 93.8.
- Imperial College London of United Kingdom secured the second overall rank, earning a sustainability score of 98.3.
- Stanford University, from the United States secured the third overall rank with a sustainability score of 95.4.
- University of Oxford from the United Kingdom acquired the overall fourth position, earning a sustainability score of 77.9.
- Harvard University from United States secured the fifth position overall with a sustainability score of 77.8.
- University of Cambridge from United Kingdom secured the sixth overall ranking with a sustainability score of 78.4.
- ETH Zurich from Switzerland got the seventh overall rank, with the highest sustainability score of 99.6 among the top 10 institutions.
- National University of Singapore, Singapore secured the eighth overall rank among the top institutions of the world with a sustainability score of 90.
- UCL university from the United Kingdom secured the ninth overall rank with the second highest sustainability score of 98.5 among the top 10 institutions.
- California Institute of Technology, United States secured the 10th position overall with a sustainability score of 79.2.
Several top-ranked institutions in the QS World Rankings 2026 may have relatively low sustainability scores when compared to lower-ranked universities. This suggests that they may lag in areas such as reducing carbon footprints, managing resources and waste, promoting ethical practices, ensuring transparency, and fostering positive relationships with students, staff, and the broader community.