Irkutsk State University for the third time in a row entered another of the three most prestigious rankings of the world’s top higher education institutions – QS World University Rankings, published annually by the British company Quacquarelli Symonds.
There are only 48 Russian universities in the world’s top universities list, which, in comparison with last year, have lost their positions. In the general world list, ISU being the only university from the Irkutsk region took 1401+ place.
It should be noted that the top three most prestigious university rankings are QS World University Rankings (which ISU entered for the third time), THE World University Rankings (in which ISU has been included continuously since 2020) and SJTU Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Ranking)
The entry of Irkutsk State University into the most prestigious rankings of the world’s top universities has already become a trend. As Alexander Schmidt, ISU rector, noted, this is an indicator of the university's high status, confirming its position as a leading center for research and higher education in the Baikal region and Russia, as well as a consequence of the fact that the university is becoming more recognizable in the global scientific and educational space and more competitive.
The QS World University Rankings evaluates universities according to several criteria, such as scientific reputation, citation of scientific articles, employer reputation etc. At the same time, as QS reported, sustainability, international research network and employment outcomes were added to the criteria of the new ranking.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, USA) holds the first place in the ranking. The highest place among Russian universities was taken by Lomonosov Moscow State University – 87th place.
