Ekaterina Alexandrova, an expert on applying to Russian universities and the author of the ranking, says that the list is based on several prominent university rankings. When it comes to technical universities, she cites studies by Interfax (one of Russia’s top news agencies – Ed.) and RAEX, along with the Shanghai Ranking and QS World University Rankings.

Each of the four cited rankings utilizes different criteria: RAEX looks into education quality at a given university and the demand for its graduates on the job market, Interfax takes the university’s brand and focus on innovation into account, while the Shanghai Ranking and QS World University Rankings evaluate the number of published articles, citation rates, and other research metrics.

Ekaterina Alexandrova took the top 10 Russian universities from each of the four sources and ranked them by how often they appeared in each ranking. According to her findings, ITMO is the highest-rated technical university in Russia. The author also highlighted the university's advanced infrastructure and curriculum. 

“When choosing a university, make sure to check whether its laboratories and educational programs are evolving to focus on the most recent technologies. For example, ITMO claims to teach its students to work with neural networks and driverless cars,” said Ekaterina Alexandrova.

The other top positions in the ranking of technical universities were awarded to the National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University and the Ural Federal University, located in Yekaterinburg. Overall, the ranking is split into nine categories corresponding to the following subject areas: technology, natural sciences and mathematics, medicine, agriculture, economics, law, psychology and educational science, arts, and humanities

It should also be noted that in 2022, ITMO was declared the best university in Russia in the category Technical Sciences by the RUR Ranking agencу for the third year in a row. In the Shanghai Ranking, ITMO leads among Russian universities in as many as seven categories, along with being the only Russian entrant in three of them. They are: Computer Science & Engineering (ITMO placed 401–500), Telecommunication Engineering (201–300), and Electrical & Electronic Engineering (401–500).  

ITMO.NEWS editorial office