Rankings: The 41 best universities in Russia for 2020/2021
MSU by I.s.kopytov, CC BY-SA 4.0, modified
Russia has a long history of top-quality academic research and teaching. More and more students are drawn to this exciting country every year.
The preeminent institution is Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), firmly ranked among the 100 best universities in the world. There are also many technical universities and engineering schools in Russia that enjoy a global reputation in their disciplines.
And expect more Russian universities to keep climbing the international rankings: “Project 5-100”, an official government initiative, aims at pushing at least five institutions into the world’s top 100.
| University | QS Ranking 2020 | THE Ranking 2020 | ARWU Ranking 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) | 84 | 189 | 87 |
| Novosibirsk State University | 231 | 501 | 401 |
| St Petersburg University | 234 | 601 | 301 |
| Tomsk State University | 268 | 501 | 801 |
| Bauman Moscow State Technical University | 284 | 801 | – |
| Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) | 302 | 201 | 401 |
| Higher School of Economics (HSE) | 322 | 251 | 901 |
| National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute) | 329 | 401 | 601 |
| Ural Federal University | 364 | 1001 | 701 |
| MGIMO University | 366 | – | – |
| Tomsk Polytechnic University | 387 | 601 | – |
| Peoples' Friendship University of Russia | 392 | 801 | – |
| Kazan Federal University | 392 | 601 | 801 |
| ITMO University | 436 | 401 | 801 |
| Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University | 439 | 501 | – |
| National University of Science and Technology MISiS | 451 | 601 | 801 |
| Saratov State University | 521 | 1001 | – |
| Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) | 531 | 1001 | – |
| Southern Federal University | 541 | 1001 | – |
| Lobachevsky University | 601 | 1001 | – |
| Samara University | 651 | 1001 | – |
| Plekhanov Russian University of Economics | 751 | – | – |
| Voronezh State University | 801 | 1001 | – |
| South Ural State University | 801 | 1001 | – |
| Novosibirsk State Technical University | 801 | 1001 | – |
| Ufa State Aviation Technical University | – | 1001 | – |
| Siberian Federal University | – | 1001 | – |
| Sechenov University | – | 1001 | – |
| Saint-Petersburg Mining University | – | 801 | – |
| Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI" | – | 1001 | – |
| Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University | – | 1001 | – |
| Perm State University | – | 1001 | – |
| Perm National Research Polytechnic University | – | 1001 | – |
| Moscow Technological University | – | 1001 | – |
| Moscow Power Engineering Institute | – | 1001 | – |
| Moscow Aviation Institute | – | 1001 | – |
| Kazan National Research Technological University | – | 1001 | – |
| Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas | – | 1001 | – |
| Belgorod State National Research University | – | 1001 | – |
| Bashkir State University | – | 1001 | – |
| Volgograd State Technical University | – | 1001 | – |
The QS World University Rankings are among the most important, most-referenced rankings. The QS ranking relies heavily on its academic survey, asking thousands of academics worldwide about the reputation of universities.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (or the THE Rankings for short) compile a wide range of statistics. Equal weight is put on teaching quality, research excellence, and research impact through citations (meaning how often a university’s research is referenced elsewhere).
The Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (often just Shanghai Ranking, or ARWU) focuses on research output and quality, for example measured by the number of published and cited scientific papers and the number of staff or alumni winning the Nobel Prize or Fields Medal.
Plenty of exciting study options await international students in the largest country on earth: Russia offers high-quality education at world-renowned institutions, and is rapidly internationalising its university sector. Dozens of Russian universities offer a variety of study programmes in English.
Read more about studying in Russia
