ISU has traditionally been included in the international ranking of universities by the RUR agency (Round University Ranking). In the global ranking 2024, ISU ranks 904^th (last year – 1018^th), among Russian universities, the university is on the 55^th line (63^rd place in 2023).

In the published ranking, Russia is represented by 131 universities (last year 122 universities) which is 10% of all participants. The first place among the Russian universities is taken by Lomonosov Moscow State University. Another university from Irkutsk represented in the Russian part of the rating is IRNTU that occupies the 58^th place.

The Round University Ranking is the first annual international ranking based in Russia. Since 2010, the organizers have been compiling information on key performance indicators of more than a thousand leading universities in the world. The research toolkit is represented by a general rating and a number of ratings in subject areas. They are based on 20 indicators distributed across four aspects of university activities: teaching (40%), research (40%), financial sustainability (10%), international diversity (10%). Each aspect includes five indicators that have the same weighting coefficients within their group.