Geographical and economic drivers of global university ESG scores
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15291/cores.4846Keywords:
ESG scores, Higher Education Institutions, macroeconomic drivers, QS rankings, university sustainabilityAbstract
Purpose: This study investigates the geographical and economic drivers shaping global university Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance.
Approach/methodology/design: Utilizing a comparative exploratory design, the research analyzes composite scores from the QS Sustainability ranking across diverse economic contexts by adapting a standardized ESG classification framework from the Refinitiv Eikon database alongside comparative descriptive statistics to effectively address sample heterogeneity and regional structural disparities.
Findings: The findings reveal that while higher education institutions in Advanced Economies consistently lead in Social and Governance dimensions, Environmental Research represents a universal strength across all economic tiers, including Emerging Market Economies. Conversely, campus operational sustainability and environmental education lag globally, uncovering a key disconnect between academic climate expertise and internal operational execution.
Research limitations/implications: An acknowledged limitation of this research is its reliance on a single ranking system and descriptive methodology, which precludes establishing direct causal mechanisms.
Practical implications: Practically, these findings provide university administrators with a clear benchmarking tool to reallocate strategic resources from purely academic output toward campus decarbonization and comprehensive curriculum integration.
Social implications: Socially, the study emphasizes the urgent need for international rating agencies to develop context-specific metrics that account for national economic disparities, ensuring that localized sustainability efforts in developing regions are fairly evaluated against global standards.
Originality/value: The originality of this work lies in pioneering the application of corporate ESG classification models to higher education rankings, establishing a novel macro-level framework to map global sustainability performance across diverse socioeconomic landscapes.
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Data Availability Statement
Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Miguel Ángel Latorre Guillem, Marijana Jerić (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
