Modern Slavery Act 2015
Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
Introduction
This statement is made under section 54 (1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It is made on behalf of THE World Universities Insights Limited or any of its Subsidiaries (together “THE”). It was approved by the Board of Directors of THE on 24 June 2024. It is signed by the Chief Executive Officer on behalf of the aforementioned companies. It constitutes the Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement for the financial year ended 31 December 2023.
Overview
The World University Insights Ltd, publisher of Times Higher Education, is the data provider underpinning university excellence in every continent across the world. As the company behind the world’s most influential university ranking, and with almost five decades of experience as a source of analysis and insight on higher education, we have unparalleled expertise on the trends underpinning university performance globally. Our data and benchmarking tools are used by many of the world’s most prestigious universities to help them achieve their strategic goals.
Policy Statement
We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking within any part of THE or in our supply chains. We operate employment policies and procedures that are designed to treat all individuals who work within THE with dignity and respect, to reward them fairly for their work and not to exploit them. We comply with all applicable employment legislation, including laws relating to minimum wages and the working time directive. We only wish to work with organisations that have a similar commitment and are not involved in modern slavery or human trafficking. While it is the obligation of those organisations to operate their own policies and procedures to achieve that objective, we take reasonable steps to verify compliance where appropriate.
As part of our wider commitment to promoting ethical business practices, we have in place a variety of policies and procedures that together address our stance on this including our Code of Business Ethics, Anti-Bribery policy, Fraud policy and a range of business practice policies, including our Whistle Blowing policy.
Services
The services we provide to our customers are predominantly from our offices or site based at customers’ premises. The majority of our work is undertaken by our own staff. Our view is that this represents a very low risk of our services being involved in slavery and / or human trafficking. As such, THE has not identified a need to take any additional action with regard to such relationships.
The majority of services supplied to THE are from suppliers based in the UK and we consider them to be in relation to very low risk areas of activity such as the provision of IT, distribution and marketing services. Given our assessment of the very low risk nature of these activities, we therefore take no additional steps other than our usual supplier due diligence.
Goods
The majority of goods supplied to THE are in relation to the running of our offices, our IT network and the production of our title. We believe that there is a very low risk that anyone providing us with these goods will be involved in slavery and / or human trafficking and therefore rely on our normal supplier due diligence during the approval or renewal process.
Further steps
We will continue to review this statement on an on-going basis and will adapt our review and assessment accordingly should any material changes take place within our business.
We will also take the following further steps:
- Work with suppliers that are identified to be high risk to ask for confirmation of compliance
- Take steps to raise awareness within the business of the Modern Slavery Act
Signed:
Paul Howarth
Chief Executive Officer
THE World Universities Insights Limited
Dated: 24/06/2024