12th in Russia: ITMO University On the Rise in National Rankings

The International information services group "Interfax" has published the results of its seventh annual National University ranking, and also presented two special rankings: "Innovation and entrepreneurship" and "University Brand". There were 238 Russian universities that got into this year’s ranking. ITMO University demonstrated great progress in terms of "Brand" over the past year, and has risen from 29^th to 12^th place according to this criterion. Significant growth is also noticeable in other evaluation criteria, which resulted in the University rising to 12^th place in the overall standings.

The universities are evaluated on the basis of six key categories, among which are education and research activities, social environment, internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship, and brand. The first two criteria are weighted more significantly. The ranking is based on data gathered from questionnaires completed by representatives from universities, information on universities posted on their official websites, information resources from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and special information collected by analytical systems.

Lomonosov Moscow State University took first place in the 2016 rankings. "Silver" and "bronze" went to National Research Nuclear University MEPhI and Novosibirsk State University. Also in the top ten were placed MIPT, St. Petersburg State University, Higher School of Economics, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Peoples Friendship University, Tomsk State University and Tomsk Polytechnic University.

ITMO University was just two places off the top ten, and has in fact risen from last year from 15th to 12th place. Besides the overall criteria, it has also risen in specific categories, such as research, from 21st to 9th place; in internationalization, from 16th to 6th place; brand, from 29th to 12th place, and innovation and entrepreneurship from 8th to 5th place.

In the area of innovation and entrepreneurship, a university’s progress is measured by such indicators as cooperation with industry, patent portfolio, development of its innovation infrastructure, income from R & D, and presence of affiliated departments. Universities are actively developing their brands, as well. In this category, the indicators of progress are media activity, perception of a university’s research in international and Russian academic communities, and so on.

The "Interfax" rankings started in 2010.

12th in Russia: ITMO University On the Rise in National Rankings

Maryam Reyhani