South East Asian universities are leading the way on social and economic impact

When Times Higher Education launched its pioneering Impact Rankings five years ago, the most exciting thing for me was that the results revealed world-class excellence in universities that had previously been ignored - hidden - by traditional university rankings.

The THE Impact Rankings do not rely on traditional metrics of research and reputation, often built on wealth and heritage. They assess universities social and economic impact – their real-world impact on the ground, in their communities and beyond – through four core aspects: their teaching; their research; their community outreach; and the stewardship of their resources, including their campuses and their staff.

Our assessment of university impact is all set under the framework of each one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – giving us rich data on university activity covering everything from eradicating poverty and providing economic growth, to fighting global heating and protecting the environment, to supporting peace and justice. This gives us 17 separate university impact rankings for each one of the 17 SDGs as well as an overall ranking.

The THE Impact Rankings have helped to re-define excellence in global higher education – based on real-word impact and sustainability, rather than wealth and prestige. And guess what? South East Asia shines out as a global beacon of excellence.

To name just a small fraction of the star performers…

Universitas Indonesia (UI) takes second place in the world for its contribution to SDG1 – No poverty. King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi , in Thailand, takes fourth place worldwide for this same SDG.

For SDG2 (Zero Hunger) University of Indonesia takes fifth place worldwide. For SDG3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), Thailand’s ???????????????? takes 3rd place in the world. For SDG5 (gender equality), University of Malaya is 3rd in the world.

For SDG7 (affordable and clean energy), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia is the world number one ranked university (and Mahidol takes 5th place).

For SDG8 (decent work and economic growth), the world number one place is taken by Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) in Indonesia. For SDG16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) 马来西亚理科大学 is world number one.

So we have some absolutely remarkable, shining stars in South East Asia for making a difference to the world – for demonstrating real impact.

Overall, there were just 25 universities from South East Asia in the inaugural version of the THE Impact Rankings in 2019 – about 5 per cent of the total. But as the rankings have grown in global popularity, ASEAN universities’ representation has grown. Today there are 161 ASEAN universities in the current version of the THE Impact Rankings – that represents 10 per cent of all ranked universities.

That 10 per cent representation among universities leading the commitment to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals compares to less than 9 per cent of the world population in ASEAN nations, and 3.4 per cent of world GDP.

So on social impact, ASEAN universities are not only showing global leadership – they are punching above their weight. That is right in a region with such a large youth population, with such exciting economic growth, with such a huge global responsibility for food production and with mass urbanisation. Universities are the key to helping realise the full, untapped potential of the region – they key to delivering strong, sustainable success for all ASEAN nations.

This leadership on Impact, I believe, can really open the door for further impact – through international collaboration. By shining a light on previously unknown, or hidden, pockets of excellence and world-class activity in the drive to deliver the SDGs, we hope that THE can facilitate international collaboration – open up our data to help with international matchmaking, forging new international collaborations both within, and beyond, South East Asia.

With this in mind, I am delighted that Times Higher Education has selected Bangkok as the host city for next year’s Global Sustainable Development Congress – the world’s largest gathering designed to unite across borders, universities, businesses, governments and civic society, to fore meaningful new partnerships and collaborations. We felt it was only right that this landmark international gathering should be in held in South East Asia. Taking place in June 2024, and featuring the release of the next THE Impact Rankings, the congress will be an outstanding global showcase of South East Asia’s global leadership on social and economic impact.

So it is perfect, and I am truly thrilled, that the overarching theme of THE Campus Live SE Asia is: “Higher education as a tool for economic and social transformation” – because we know there is already so much leadership in South East Asia on this topic, and so many wonderful case studies to learn from. One area of focus in the Teaching and Learning track is on the question: “how can we align curricula with the Sustainable Development Goals”. On this, again, I am delighted that we have a real example of leadership from the region.

Times Higher Education THE has been honoured to work with Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation since December 2020, in a multi-phase engagement to support the impact of Thai universities.

First, we evaluated 35 area-based universities in Thailand on their current and future activities in research, teaching, outreach, and stewardship, linked to each of the SDGs and Thailand’s regional economic development priorities. A key recommendation from this first stage was the creation of a pioneering new “Student Sustainability Survey” that would provide nationwide benchmarking data to document and evaluate the impact of sustainability education in Thailand.

This tracker, the first of its kind in the world, measures students’ awareness and knowledge of the SDGs and provides a rating of how well their university experiences have helped them develop into sustainable citizens, ready to be the change-makers of tomorrow. Through collecting and interpreting this data, THE hopes to empower MHESI and Thai universities to make informed decisions about their sustainability curriculum and assess the effectiveness of sustainability-related work and their internship experiences.

This pioneering work by MHESI in collaboration with THE, serves as an example of how the higher education sector can actively shape social and economic development. I heartily congratulate – and indeed thank - the Thai government for showing such leadership on this issue.

I also heartily congratulate – and indeed thank – all of you across the South East Asia university sector for joining us at THE Campus Live SE Asia, for showing your commitment to making a real impact on society and to help ensure ASEAN universities continue to lead the way for the region, and indeed for the world.