Western Sydney University is the world’s top institution for sustainability after taking out first place in the Times Higher Education’s Impact Rankings.

The university claimed the overall top honour on Thursday evening, beating out the University of Manchester in second spot and Canada’s Queen’s University in third.

The rankings, now in their fifth year, measure an institution’s contribution to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, with a focus on the areas of research, stewardship, outreach and teaching.

Western Sydney vice-chancellor Barney Glover said the university was committed to promoting those goals and ensuring its work aligned with the critical international effort.

“This ranking system recognises those commitments and brings into sharp focus the global challenges we face and the need for urgent collaborative action,” he said.

The university also came in first in the areas of gender equality, responsible consumption and production, and partnerships for the goals.

Melbourne’s RMIT University took out top spot in the categories of decent work and economic growth and reduced inequalities, while the University of Tasmania finished first in climate action.

Macquarie University in New South Wales was the highest ranking institution in the area of life below water.

Overall, Australia had 15 universities ranked in the top 100.

“It’s unbelievably impressive and is testament to how seriously those institutions, and the country, takes these critically important goals,” Times Higher Education’s Phil Baty said.

The rankings were a valuable tool for universities and governments to understand how institutions were supporting the drive to meet the UN’s sustainability goals, Mr Baty said.

“The rankings are also vital for millions of prospective students who are increasingly demanding to see evidence that the universities they consider for their education are committed to sustainability.”

A record 1705 universities from 115 countries and regions were assessed in the 2023 rankings.

Progress is measured for each of the individual 17 development goals and across the goals as a whole.

-AAP