Russia moves to rate its own universities

After it was reported this month that not a single Russian university had cracked The Times Higher Education’s ranking of top 100 schools by academic reputation, Education Minister Andrei Fursenko said that Russia was in the process of creating its own rating system, writes Sophia Kishkovsky for The New York Times.

A brain drain from Russia has been funnelling its brightest minds to the West, while the nation’s embattled higher education system struggles to find its place in the post-Soviet world. Each new rating announcement sets off hand-wringing about the predominance of the United States and the rise of China, both sore points and models for Russia.

Fursenko told the Interfax news agency that ratings were an “instrument of competitive battle and influence” and should not be monopolised. He said that Russia was working with international specialists to create its own “international and universally recognised” university rating, Interfax reported this month.
Full report on The New York Times site