MEPhI – in the top five among Russian Universities in Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020
13.09.2019

On September 11, 2019, the global ranking of the world's best universities were published by the British company Times Higher Education. The rating consisted of 1396 universities worldwide, including 39 Russian schools.

MEPhI took the 4th place among all Russian universities (401-500 group among the best universities in the world). The first place among Russian universities belongs to MSU, which is ranked 189th in the world.

"The release of any national and global rankings is to some extent an exciting process for universities, as the evaluation methodologies of ratings are often subject to change and recently increased competition intensifies the situation. In most rankings, MEPhI is among the top five universities in Russia (ARWU, THE, U.S. News & World Report, Three University Missions, RUR, Interfax, RAEX, etc.). Overall, such result is significant for the MEPhI team, given that each of the ratings has its own particularities, strengths and weaknesses. For example, THE rating practically does not take into account scientific articles and publications, written within the framework of major scientific collaborations (e.g. CERN).  For MEPhI University, which is actively involved in research at magascience facilities, losing these citations certainly negatively affects the rating results. We consider it appropriate for rating agencies, in particular THE and QS, to reconsider their approach to assessing the real contribution of universities to basic research. Assessment of University’s publication activity may not be objective without it," said the rector of MEPhI Mikhail Strikhanov.

The Times Higher Education ranking of world universities evaluates universities on 13 performance indicators, which are grouped into five areas: teaching (learning environment), research (volume, income and reputation), citation (research impact), international interaction (staff, students and research), income from production activities (knowledge transfer).