Penn State is dedicated to tracking its progress in sustainability to improve its performance, and measure progress toward its sustainability goals.
The University regularly participates in several sustainability assessments, including the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the Princeton Review’s Green Schools Rating, and the Sierra Club’s Cool Schools. More recently, Penn State has participated in the Times Higher Education Impact Ranking. Each of these is described briefly below. We also track additional metrics that are representative of Penn State’s unique sustainability goals.
STARS
The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS®) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. It covers a broad array of assessment areas, including Curriculum, Research, Public and Campus Engagement, Operations, and Planning and Administration. In 2011, its first year of participation, Penn State received a silver rating from STARS; in 2014, its rating rose to Gold. In 2017, 2020, and 2023 it scored higher each time within the Gold category.
The Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges
The Princeton Review publishes an annual Guide to Green Colleges, based on a subset of the data submitted through STARS and weighted according to a different scheme. Penn State has appeared as one of the roughly 400 schools listed in the Guide each year. More information about the Guide, including Penn State’ current listing, can be found at the link below.
Times Higher Education Impact Rankings
In 2020, Penn State participated for the first time in the Times Higher Education Impact Ranking, then in its second year of development. In contrast to the three previous assessments listed – which are primarily or exclusively used by U.S. universities – this assessment is truly a global one, with (as of 2024) 2,152 universities from more than 125 nations participating. The assessment is structured around the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, and uses indicators to provide comparisons across three broad areas: research, outreach, and stewardship. The number of participating universities has grown substantially year over year, affecting the rankings slightly, and yet Penn State consistently has ranked as one of the top global leaders in sustainability:
- In 2020, Penn State placed 35th overall, and 3rd among U.S. universities, out of 768 participating universities.
- In 2021, Penn State placed 32nd overall, and 4th among U.S. universities, out of 1,118 participating universities.
- In 2022, Penn State placed 47th overall, and 3rd among U.S. universities, out of 1,406 participating universities.
- In 2023, Penn State placed 40th overall, and 3rd among U.S. universities, out of 1,705 participating universities.
- In 2024, Penn State placed 51st overall, and 4th among U.S. universities, out of 2,152 participating universities.
See Penn State’s progress addressing the SDGs on the SDG Progress page.
QS World University Rankings
QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) is the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insight to the global higher education sector, whose mission is to enable motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfil their potential through educational achievement, international mobility, and career development. The QS World University Rankings portfolio, inaugurated in 2004, has grown to become the world’s most popular source of comparative data about university performance.
2024 represents the 20th edition of the QS World University Rankings. It features 1,500 institutions across 104 locations and is the only ranking of its kind to emphasize employability and sustainability. In 2024, QS implemented their largest-ever methodological enhancement, introducing three new metrics: Sustainability, Employment Outcomes and International Research Network. The results draw on the analysis of 17.5m academic papers and the expert opinions of over 240,000 academic faculty and employers.
In 2024, Penn State ranked #83 in World University Rankings, #88 by subject, and #37 in the QS Sustainability Ranking.
APPA
In 2017, Penn State received one of the top facilities honors in the country—The 2017 APPA Effective & Innovative Practices Award. APPA is the professional association of educational facilities in the United States, Canada and abroad.
In 2023, Phillip Melnick, retired Director of Buildings and Grounds, was awarded the Pacesetter Award which recognizes personal leadership and APPA members who have made significant contributions to their regions or chapters.
Sierra Club’s “Cool Schools”
For 15 years, the Sierra Club compiled information for its annual “Cool Schools” magazine issue, which rated American colleges and universities according to their environmental practices, green initiatives, and level of sustainability-oriented education. Like the Princeton Review’s rating system “Cool Schools” is based on a subset of STARS metrics, weighted according to Sierra Clubs own scheme. In 2021, that last year of the Cool Schools ranking, Penn State was ranked 39th of 328 participating schools.
