Massey’s sustainability efforts score highly

The QS Sustainability Rankings framework highlights the different ways in which universities are tackling the world’s greatest environmental, social and governance issues, which make up the three categories in which institutions are ranked.

Massey University is now ranked 131 globally, out of 2,001 participating universities.

Provost Professor Giselle Byrnes says it’s very encouraging to see Massey maintain its relative position as the number of universities has increased this year.

“A growing number of universities around the world are realising the importance of sustainability in the way they operate, teach and conduct research, which is evidenced by the 14 per cent increase in the number of institutions participating in this ranking round,” Professor Byrnes says.

“Massey has a longstanding commitment to realising the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and it’s encouraging to see that we are continuing to make improvements in all areas. Just recently, Massey’s Master of Sustainable Development Goals has been ranked in the top 20 per cent out of 1600 submissions at the 2025 QS Reimagine Education Awards for its real-world impact.”

Massey University remains ranked in the top 100 globally for Impact of Education (86th) and Equality (89th) within the Social Impact category.

Massey’s largest improvement was in the Social Impact category, moving up 21 positions to be ranked 136th in the world. Notably, in the contributing area of Knowledge Exchange, Massey is now ranked 220th, an improvement of 29 positions. This performance indicator is largely scored on knowledge exchange in the form of research dissemination with low- and middle-income countries.

In the Environment category, Massey improved its ranking in the areas of Environmental Education and Environmental Research.

Massey is now ranked 103rd in the world for Environmental Education, principally based on its academic reputation in the 2025 QS Subject Rankings in Environmental Sciences, and Earth and Marine Sciences. Also contributing is the impact of Massey alumni in this sector, as well as Climate Science and Sustainability programmes. Examples of these programmes include Massey’s Bachelor of Earth and Environmental Science and the Master of Sustainable Development Goals where students can specialise in Business and Sustainability, Climate Action, Disaster Management, Educational Equity, Environmental Sustainability and Global Development.

For Environmental Research, Massey moved up three places to 177. This score is predominantly based on our research impact in six Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG11 Sustainable Cities & Communities, SDG13 Climate Action and SDG15 Life on Land.

Read more about Massey’s contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals here.