Irkutsk State University has become one of the best universities in the world once again - the Round University Ranking (RUR) agency published an international ranking of universities by subjects in the field of Natural Sciences. ISU became the only representative of the university community from the Angara region and took 605th place, improved its position in comparison with the previous year (646th place). 

In total, 729 universities were included in the RUR "Natural Sciences" ranking, where first place is occupied by the California Institute of Technology (USA). Russia is represented by 62 universities in this list, ISU is ranked 46th among them. The leaders among Russian universities are: 

- National Research Nuclear University MEPHI (40th place);

- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (48th place); 

- Tomsk State University (81st place). 

RUR subject ranking evaluates only those departments of the university, which are related to the required fields of science: Astronomy, Geology, Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Ecology, etc. At ISU Natural Science departments are the Institute of Mathematics and Information Technologies; Geographical, Geological, Physics, Chemistry faculties; Institute of Biology; Institute of Applied Physics; Institute of Oil and Coal Chemical Synthesis. Considered indicators combine four areas of measurement: the quality of teaching, the quality of research, the level of internationalization, and the level of financial sustainability. The RUR uses Clarivate Analytics' Institutional Profiles database as the source data - it is one of the most authoritative sources of information, recognized by the higher education institutions in the world.