Russia presently has established, tested and widely used comprehensive and modern rating system for higher education institutions.
Russia has more than 700 higher education institutions with over 500 their branches (without counting higher education institutions training personnel for defence and security of the state, enforcement of law and order.
They include two universities with special legal status (Lomonosov Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University), 10 federal universities and 29 national research universities. The Russian higher education system also includes a group of universities with the status of core universities. This group includes regional higher education institutions based on unification of existing higher education institutions, aimed at supporting the Russian Federation subjects. More than 74% of Russian higher education institutions are state or municipal.
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education regularly collects an array of data on universities and education programmes. The data is available to analysts and ranking authors. However, the Ministry does not publish its own rankings.
The first surge of interest in university rankings in Russia took place in 2004-2005, shortly after appearance of the Shanghai ranking. However, this interest was rather purely academic. However, in 2012 Russian universities initiated a proposal to make a ranking. There were two reasons:
- That year marked a demographic failure. For the first time, universities seriously faced a shortage of applicants. Universities had to compete with each other. And ranking is a powerful tool for competition.
- The Russian government announced a large-scale developmental program for universities, the 5-100 program. The program success was indicated by progress in the global rankings QS, THE, ARWU.
In 2014 – 2016 at the initiative of the Russian Union of Rectors, supported by the President of Russia, work began on the Moscow International Ranking “Three University Missions” (MosIUR), resulted in a new methodology and a new rating model. The goal is to obtain an objective tool for comparing Russian universities and universities in other countries. In 2017 the MosIUR pilot issue publication contained 200 best world universities. In 2021-2022 MosIUR is used for purposes of government regulation and planning; a family of ratings “Three University Missions” is set. In 2024 the eighth edition of the ranking contained 2000 best universities from 112 countries.
The general picture of compiling and using rankings in Russia is as follow:
- Since 2012, two Russian national rankings regularly get published in Russia:
- RAEX-100 – 100 best universities, compiled by the RAEX consortium
- Rating of Russian universities by the Interfax news agency
- One global ranking: Moscow international ranking “Three University Missions”
- Subject and other rankings of the “Three University Missions” family
- In addition, media regularly attempts to make rankings of their own: Forbes, RIA Novosti and many others. However, such rankings miss regularity and stable methodology, or concentrated on certain aspects.”
- The relevant ministry (Ministry of Education and Science of Russia):
- Conducts and publishes regular statistical research “Monitoring”. This is rather not a ranking, but an array of data used by researchers and ranking compilers;
- While implementing programs to support and develop universities, the Ministry uses their individual indicators, but the assessment does not hold the form of a ranking.
National university rankings are used both at the federal and international levels:
- Several norms of the Russian Government demand ranking as one of the conditions to recognize a foreign university in Russia.
- Universities actively use rankings in their activities: to set development plans, to select partners, to conduct marketing and attract applicants.
- A number of countries use rankings to help their applicants, who come to Russia to study, to choose a university in Russia
Basic principles of the “Three University Missions” ranking:
- Focus on the university public role. It involves impact on society, considers needs of society, usefulness to society, your country and your region. The feature was reflected in the ranking name – “Three University Missions”: education, science, interaction with society.
- The ranking uses exclusively objective indicators. On the one hand, it should increase credibility – all the indicators are measurable and verifiable. On the other hand, we do not depend on the mood of universities. We are independent of their decision to provide or not provide data. All ranking data comes from independent sources or public university reports. And it is more difficult to falsify a public report than a closed ranking questionnaire. There are too many interested observers around. Incorrect data would raise questions from students, professors, general public and authorities.
- Involving academic community and a wide range of international experts into rating methodology development. The methodology and results were discussed by the international expert council of leading specialists from 16 countries and at dozens of rectors’ forums of over 3,000 rectors from various countries
The family of rankings includes almost all known types of rankings:
- International level: Moscow international ranking “Three University Missions”. It allows you to obtain an objective comparison of universities, regardless of the political setup. While preparing it, we compile a preliminary list of more than 2,500 universities from 170 countries. These are almost all universities that can claim international recognition. The preliminary list is based on information about leaders of national rankings, those listed in global rankings compiled by our colleagues, and leading national universities with regard to citation of scientific publications.
This years (2024) final ranking includes 2,000 universities from 112 countries. Possibly, it is the most representative global ranking.
Its disadvantages include the fact that only 17 indicators were found for international comparisons. These indicators are applicable to universities in all countries. However, the universality has its downside: some of the indicators (for example, financial ones) you can obtain with a large delay - 2-3 years.
- The national Russian ranking RAEX-100 covers one hundred best Russian universities. Since you gather information within one country and for a relatively small number of universities, it is possible to collect high-quality information with 42 indicators. This gives a better result than international rankings.
- Local university rankings allow you to compare all Russian universities outside the TOP 100. True, due to mass scaling we have to use a more general rating model, containing about 30 indicators in total.
- Subject rankings of Russian universities cover 38 subjects. There are about 30 indicators. But some of them relate to a university in its entirety (for example, it is difficult to single out finances for one subject, as there is no reporting), and some - to its large section (for example, exact sciences).
As the name of the ranking family suggests, the rating model is the same for all rankings and consists of three factors, each corresponds to one of university’s missions:
- Education
- Science
- Communication with society
In relation to international rankings (the Moscow International Ranking and the Ranking of the BRICKS Universities), these components cover the following indicators and metrics:
- Education (45%): Students competitiveness. It is a very straightforward and, at the same time, complex indicator: How to compare level of training for students from different universities? For example, you may follow results of their direct competition in international student Olympiads. Attractiveness for international students. Percentage of foreign students is a widely used indicator. Availability of financial resources. Money determines possibilities to purchase equipment and attract leading specialists. For a fairer comparison, instead of using nominal exchange rates, we compare purchasing power parity ratios. Availability of human resources, number of teachers per student.
- Science (25%): Scientific achievements of employees and graduates, we take into account awards reputable in scientific circles. Quality of scientific publications at global and country levels. Country level publications are extremely important: a university may look modest at the global level, but be of paramount importance for its Employee involvement in research and development, volume of financing.
- University and society (30%): University’s contribution to accessible education. Presently these are primarily online courses. We are also on the lookout for other indicators in this field. University’s contribution to the country’s research and development programs. Popularity of university resources in the Internet and social networks. Role of graduates in society, number of outstanding scholars, entrepreneurs, politicians. University’s information openness.