Times Higher Education World University Rankings determines the social and economic impact of universities using the criteria based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Mehrad, professor of Shiraz University and founder of ISC, stated that the 2020 edition emphasized the 17 goals of sustainable development, while the 2019 edition considered only 11 of them in the ranking of the influential universities.
In this ranking, a total of 766 universities from 85 countries are evaluated based on a number of goals including ending poverty in all its forms everywhere, ending hunger and improving nutrition, ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all, ensuring equitable quality education for all, achieving gender equality & empowering all women & girls, ensuring availability & sustainable management of water & sanitation for all, ensuring access to affordable energy resources, promoting sustainable economic growth & providing job employment for all, building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive & sustainable industrialization & fostering innovation, reducing inequality within & among countries, making cities & safe human settlements, ensuring sustainable consumption & production patterns, taking urgent action to combat climate change & its impacts, conserving & sustainably using the oceans, seas & marine resources, sustainably managing forests & combating desertification, promoting peaceful & inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice, & strengthening the means of implementation & revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development.
In this ranking system, the universities of New Zealand & Australia had the best performance and occupied the first ranks. Japan also performed well with 63 universities in this ranking. Then, Russia with 47 universities & Turkey with 37 performed well. According to the latest report, 17 universities from Iran are included in the 2020 edition of influential universities.Iran Uni of Medical Sciences, the first university in the country, occupied the 55th rank among the most influential universities in the world. The second & third places belong to Al-Zahra Uni, which joined the ranking in the band of 301-400, & Sistan & Baluchestan Uni in the band of 301-400.
The national rankings of Amirkabir Uni of Technology, Babol Noshirvani Uni of Technology, Isfahan Uni of Medical Sciences, Mohaghegh Ardabili Uni, Shahid Beheshti Uni of Medical Sciences, Tabriz Uni, Tarbiat Modares Uni, & Zanjan Uni of Medical Sciences occupied the 4th to 11th national rankings & the international rankings of 401-600 respectively. The Shahid Madani Uni of Azerbaijan, the universities of Fasa, Kashan, Khajeh Nasir Industrial Uni, Kurdistan Uni, and Shahid Bahonar Uni of Kerman joined the raking in the band of 600 and above.
