Russia with 40 ranked universities is represented in the top-10 countries that have the most number of universities featured in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021. Russian universities are included in all five faculty rankings and in 39 out of 51 subject rankings.
The best indicator among the participants of Project 5-100 belonged to the National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, which rose to 23rd position in the subject ranking “Petroleum Engineering”. The National Research University Higher School of Economics was ranked in 20 subject areas at once, becoming the leader in terms of the number of hits in the ranking among the participants of the 5-100 Project. In addition, HSE University ranked first among Project 5-100 Universities in terms of the number of positions in the top-100 subject rankings: 8 positions, including two of them in the top-50.
“We fix the steady growth of Project 5-100 Universities in the major global rankings. This year, 16 Project 5-100 universities have entered the QS by faculty and QS by subject rankings at once, while none of them had been represented there at the start of Project 5-100 in 2013. In 2014 only 4 Project 5-100 universities entered the QS ranking for the first time: MIPT, HSE University, NRNU MEPhI, and NSU. More than 60% (35 out of 55) of the Russian Universities positions in the QS rankings are taken by Project 5-100 participants, and their contribution to the results of Russian Universities in the natural sciences and engineering is about 80%”, said Boris Filippov, Biology Ph.D., the Head of the Project 5-100 Office.
The number of positions presented by the participants of Project 5-100 in the QS subject and faculty ranking has also increased significantly — more than 40 times — from 4 in 2014 to 167 in 2021. The number of positions in the top-100 of faculty and subject rankings increased to 25, six positions are presented in the top-50 range. Ten of the 16 Russian Universities represented in the top-100 of QS rankings are Project 5-100 participants.
The rankings reflect important structural changes that have taken place in Russian Universities. For eight years, Russian Universities have made a qualitative breakthrough and transformed into modern world-class research and educational centres recognized by the world academic community, as well as by applicants and employers from different countries.
All areas of Universities’ work have undergone changes: whether it is personnel policy, research programs, the model of interaction between teachers and students, or the system of academic management and interaction with a wide range of stakeholders. Such transformational processes have allowed students to receive quality education on world-class programs with a choice of professional trajectories.
Scientists and teachers had the opportunity to work in modern laboratories, participate in breakthrough research that is relevant to the Russian and world agenda, and interact with leading world scientists.
Despite the pandemic difficulties in 2020, Project 5-100 Universities delivered a high level of operation and significantly increased their results.
“In February 2021, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation assessed the results of Project 5-100 and concluded that it corresponded to many trends in foreign academic excellence initiatives. Despite the fact that for the most part foreign analogs are designed for longer periods and involve a much larger amount of funding, the implementation of Project 5-100 has made it possible not only to form a group of Universities – world leaders but also to make a qualitative shift in the development of the entire system of Russian higher education and science, to lay a serious foundation for its further transformation and increase of competitiveness. Thus, now we can confidently say that Project 5-100 has proven its effectiveness as an initiative to increase global competitiveness and build up the research potential of Russian Universities”, – commented Boris Filippov.