QS BRICS-2016 rankings showed that Russian universities have hit a tough spot with changes in the ranking methodology used this year. As observed by this year’s rankings, most Russian universities have either dipped a few places or stayed in the same position as last year. Even Moscow State University went down from 4th to 7th place; St. Petersburg State University went down five places, to 20th place together with Novosibirsk State University.
While the overall ranking may have barely changed, significant changes can be observed within each category. As such, based on the number of international faculty at ITMO University, our ranking has moved up from 88th to 51st place amongst all BRICS universities and holding 7th place in this category among the universities in Russia. An increase in the number of international students has also had an effect on the rankings: ITMO U has risen up from 30th to 25th place amongst all BRICS universities in this category.
“We focus our efforts on countries and regions where there is demand for high quality Russian education. We have recruiting campaigns to attract talented new students in more than fifteen countries around the world. The increase in the number of faculty and staff is attributed to the fact that professionals witness the development of our university and want to join our team and of course ITMO University Fellowship and Professorship programs add to the effect.” – commented Daria Kozlova, Vice Rector for International Relations at ITMO University.
Categories related to scientific research have also seen a change this year in terms of ITMO University’s place amongst Russian educational institutions. QS BRICS-2016 showed a significant increase in citations per paper at ITMO U, from 28th to 19th place amongst Russian universities. Also based on “the number of research papers published per academic staff member”, ITMO U is currently in 9th place amongst Russian universities, not too different from the previous years. The most difficult criteria to improve are academic and employer reputation, which have both seen minimal changes since the previous year.
“A “stagnation” or “plateau” of Russian universities in the rankings could be due to the methodology used. QS BRICS-2016, for example, compiled results of expert surveys from 2011-2015, as such 2016 results were not taken into account as they were not available in time for the current publication. This factor clearly put ITMO University at a disadvantage since the university experts’ database has significantly expanded and updated for 2016” – says Ilya Kuftiryov, head of Rankings Research Center at ITMO University.
Full results of QS BRICS rankings are available here. Results of QS World rankings are expected this fall.