Assessing the alignment of Indian HEIs towards sustainable development goals through times higher education impact rankings

As the notion of sustainability gains momentum worldwide, there has been emergence of many international impact ranking organizations including Times Higher Education, through their Times Higher Education-Impact Rankings (THE-IR) framework to assess the alignment of their sustainability initiatives with the sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, no research has been done till date to analyse SDG specific sustainability initiatives by the universities in terms of effective alignment studies. Therefore, this qualitative research paper assesses sustainability initiatives and SDG alignment of Indian Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) through their THE-IR rankings to foster holistic sustainable development. Through historical trend analysis and qualitative content analysis, this paper assesses the sustainability initiatives of Indian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) ranked above 200 ranks in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings (THE-IR) and their alignment with attainment of SDGs. The analysis indicates that Indian HEIs are executing a lot of sustainability initiatives and moving up the ranks in THE-IR, however, the real challenge for Indian HEIs is to understand which of the SDGs to concentrate upon so as to contribute towards a comprehensive sustainable development and further improve their rankings. The research will augment the role of Indian HEIs towards sustainability and enhance their perception among their stakeholders thereby improving their rankings.