MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Three Russian universities are listed in the Top 100 of the Three University Missions global ranking this year, according to a presentation that Viktor Sadovnichy, head of Lomonosov Moscow State University and president of the Russian Union of Rectors, put forward at a TASS-hosted press conference.
Moscow State University is in 17th position in the ranking, St. Petersburg State University is in 49th place and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology is ranked 54th. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology tops the list, followed by Harvard University, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and University College London.
"I must say that our universities have slightly slipped [in the ranking]. Figuring out the reasons why this happened requires some analysis. We believe it has to do with mutual citation practices and some publishers’ attitude to us, which is important for the ranking. A decline in scientific exchanges, which has happened through no fault of ours, is another reason, but we are completely open in this regard. Moscow State University is the only institution that held the same spot in the ranking," Sadovnichy pointed out.
Notably, the Top 2000 of the ranking includes universities from 112 countries, with 518 universities from BRICS member states among them. Russia is in the top three for university representation after the US and China.
The Moscow global university ranking assesses all three key missions universities, including education, science and interaction with society.