LONDON, October 17. /TASS/. Ten Russian universities have been included in the engineering and technology ranking published by the Times Higher Education, while another five universities made it into the computer science ranking.

Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) comes first among the Russian universities in both rankings. In the engineering and technology ranking, it entered the 125-150 group, followed by Tomsk Polytechnic University (151-175), Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Tomsk State University (both included in the 251-300 group), and ITMO University (301-400).

National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, National University of Science and Technology MISiS, Novosibirsk State University, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and Samara State Aerospace University were included in the 401-500 group.

Out of the ten Russian universities, nine have made it in the ranking for the first time. According to the Times Higher Education experts, the reason is that "this year’s ranking has expanded to include 500 institutions, up from 100 last year, while the threshold for the proportion of staff working in the relevant disciplines has decreased."

In the computer science ranking, MSU was also recognized as the best Russian university. However, it was ranked 60th, moving 17 positions down when compared to 2016. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology is 67th, while ITMO University is 76th. The 201-250 group includes National Research Nuclear University MEPhI and St. Petersburg State University.

Stanford University tops the engineering and technology ranking, with the top three also including California Institute of Technology and University of Oxford. As for the computer science ranking, the leader is the same, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is second and University of Oxford is third.

Expert opinion

According to the Times Higher Education rankings’ website, "the 2018 Times Higher Education World University Rankings’ table for engineering and technology subjects employs the same rigorous and balanced range of 13 performance indicators used in the overall World University Rankings, but the methodology has been recalibrated to suit the individual fields." The performance indicators are grouped into five areas - teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income.

While talking to TASS, editorial director of the Times Higher Education global rankings Phil Baty said that "Russian universities in the engineering and technology table tend to have a weak international outlook - low numbers of international students, staff and research publications."

"They also generally achieve low scores for citations (research influence), although Tomsk Polytechnic University is an exception," he added. At the same time, he said that "it is great news that Russia has increased its representation in the THE rankings tables for engineering and technology and computer science subjects."

"Ten Russian universities now make the THE engineering and technology ranking this year, including nine for the first time. And five Russian institutions make the computer science table," Baty said adding that "this is a fantastic achievement and proves that Russian universities are truly on the world stage when it comes to their education and research in engineering and technology and computer science.".