Higher learning

By Andrew Roth. The release of the Times Higher Education (THE) global university rankings, in which Russian universities across the board fell below the top 100 spots in terms of reputation, prompted a flurry of activity in the Russian academic establishment earlier this month. Critics of the rankings, including the incoming president Vladimir Putin, called for the creation of a Russian rating agency that could counterbalance Western efforts to compare international universities. Others say that the Russian government’s response ignores the fact that existing ratings now play a considerable role in how Russian education is seen around the world.
The Russian Education Oversight Agency has already started developing the new rating system, but so far hasn’t divulged what methodology it will be using. This is not the first attempt in Russia to release a similar project: in 2009, the independent Russian rating agency ReitOR released its first international university rankings, putting Moscow State University (MSU) at number five behind the MIT and Columbia. Yet that was the only year the agency released an international ranking.
Phil Baty, the Times’ editor, called Russia’s response to the rankings “remarkable,” but said that it was indicative of the growing influence of the Times’ ratings across the world. “Many governments now use [the ratings] to benchmark national performance, and many nations believe it is important not just for national pride, but also for economic progress,” he said. Russian universities’ poor performance this year could be explained by a lack of investment compared with their Asian peers, along with the low number of English language publications in Russian academia, Baty added. “There are some fine Russian universities with an excellent history of innovation and discovery, but the whole sector has had some challenges in the post-Soviet era, in particular with the so-called ‘brain-drain’ of academics to other countries,” he said.
Recent polling by VTsIOM has shown that a considerable number of young, educated Russians are considering moving abroad. Education provides an easy route through emigration hurdles and funnels students toward job opportunities. Zoya Zaitseva, the regional director for Russia and Central Asia for the academic ratings agency QS, said that Moscow State University’s fall out of the top 100 in THE’s rankings “shocked everyone,” and that the steep dive could speak to a “statistical error” in the agency’s methodology. Yet she added that many Russian universities do not excel in areas used as indicators by international rating agencies, including opinion polls. “Russian academics don’t have much experience participating in international surveys,” she said.
Nonetheless, some Russian universities have made considerable steps forward. The upstarts, like Bauman University and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), have specifically focused on increasing their ratings to both attract international talent and stem the flow of students abroad. MGIMO jumped from below 600th place on QS’s international rankings in 2010 to 389th in 2011. According to Alexandra Khudaikulova, the vice rector of MGIMO, the university focused its efforts on increasing applied education, English language training and cooperation with foreign universities. “Today, ratings are a fact of life,” she said, noting that both international and local students used them as a benchmark for a university’s performance.
Zaitseva was skeptical that a Russian rating agency tied to the government could build trust in local universities. “From an emotional point of view, the idea of creating an international rating that supports Russian universities is quite naïve,” she said. The new ratings system would also have to prove its methodology to be accepted, she added. “If we talk about the number of satellites released, then yes, MSU is ahead of Harvard, but if we talk about the quality of the education, I think that could be a different situation.”