Interfax, QS rate best universities in BRICS
International information group Interfax and rating company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a recognized university comparison leader, have ranked the best universities among the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
You can view the complete list of the top 100 universities in BRICS at www.TopUniversities.com.
The methodology for the rating is similar to the method used by QS, which has many years‘ experience in compiling its global university rankings (QS World Universities Rankings, www.topuniversities.com) and regional rankings (QS University Rankings: Asia, QS University Rankings: Latin America).
The top-100 included 40 universities from China and 19 from Russia. Universities in Brazil occupied 17 spots, India - 16 and South Africa - 8.
Top ten universities in BRICS:
| 1 | Tsinghua University | China |
| 2 | Peking University | China |
| 3 | Lomonosov Moscow State University | Russia |
| 4 | Fudan University | China |
| 5 | Nanjing University | China |
| 6 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | China |
| 7 | University of Science and Technology of China | China |
| 8 | Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP) | Brazil |
| 9 | Zhejiang University | China |
| 10 | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) | Brazil |
Russian universities in new BRICS rankings
| Ranking in Russia | Ranking in BRICS | Name |
| 1 | 3 | Lomonosov Moscow State University |
| 2 | 14 | St. Petersburg State University |
| 3 | 22 | Novosibirsk State University |
| 4 | 33 | Bauman Moscow State Technical University |
| 5 | 37 | Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) |
| 6 | 47 | St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University |
| 7 | 50 | National Research University Higher School of Economics |
| 8 | 55 | Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology State University |
| 9 | 58 | Tomsk State University |
| 10 | 65 | National Research Nuclear University MEPhI |
| 11 | 71 | Tomsk Polytechnical University |
| 12 | 74 | Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod |
| 13 | 79 | Kazan Federal University |
| 14 | 84 | Urals Federal University |
| 15 | 86 | People‘s Friendship University of Russia |
| 16 | 89 | Southern Federal University |
| 17 | 91 | Voronezh State University |
| 18 | 97 | National Research University Moscow Energy Institute |
| 19 | 99 | Far East Federal University |
"The development of universities in the BRICS countries to international levels is a strategic priority, required to support economic growth, which is not possible without innovation, advanced scientific research and the training of highly qualified graduates, QS Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Zoya Zaitseva said. "Russia showed good results and I hope that the project to increase the competitiveness of universities in the country will be translated into positive dynamics for universities."
The head of the QS Research Center, Ben Sowter, said it was no surprise that China was at the top of the rankings, considering the size of its economy and population, along with its huge resources, which are now going into development of the country‘s higher education.
As with the main QS ranking, the BRICS university ranking demonstrates a sharp contrast between India and China and their achievements in higher education. Despite a not much smaller population, just 16 Indian universities made it into the ranking, half China‘s figure. Although India does have international standard universities that are focused on science and technology, the country‘s classic universities are not that strong on the international arena.
Two Brazilian universities made it into the top ten. The country has ambitious plans to increase the number of Brazilian students studying abroad. We are sure that with time this will result in a more internationally integrated system of higher education.
There are many transformations occurring in the South African higher education system: old universities are being reformed and new ones opened. The universities in the country are very popular among foreign students, teachers and researchers, he said.
*** QS Quacquarelli Symond. Established in 1990, QS is one of the largest providers of information for students and young professionals selecting higher education study programs. The creator of QS World University Rankings®, QS offers a new form of communication between universities and the best candidates from all around the world via international research, activities and guides.
*** The Scopus Database from Elsevier. In its rankings QS uses citation data from Scoups, which is the largest bibliometric database of abstracts and citations from peer-reviewed literature and quality Web sources. Its unique database contains abstracts and references from over 18,000 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers, ensuring broad interdisciplinary coverage.
Rankings for universities in CIS countries, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Interfax can also offer the results of independent research - ranking universities in CIS countries, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (for more details see www.univer-rating.ru).
The university ranking method was discussed and approved by the expert community and comprises the following:
- Assessment of the educational activity of a university (weighting factor of 0.5), which includes reputation among the academic community (0,25), reputation among employers and personnel services (0.15) and a evaluation of the quality of the research and teaching staff;
- Assessment of the scientific research activity of a university (weighting factor of 0.3), which includes evaluation scientific productivity in Russian language (0.05), evaluation of productivity for the global community (0.05), evaluation of citations in Russian language scientific publications (0.1) and evaluation of citations in global scientific publications (0.1);
- Assessment of the international activity of a university (weighting factor of 0.2), which includes evaluation of student mobility between the CIS and the Baltics (0,05), evaluation of student mobility between the CIS and the Baltics and other countries (0.05), evaluation of scientific cooperation between scholars in the CIS and the Baltics (0.05), evaluation of scientific cooperation between scholars in the CIS and the Baltics with other countries (0.05).
Scientometric data was provided by scientific electronic library elibrary.ru, a partner of Interfax, and borrowed from the international scientometric system Scopus.
The panel of academic experts in reputation surveys was compiled based on contact data for authors of scientific publications, registered in the elibrary.ru Science Index.
The panel of employers was put together with data from recruiter Job.ru and using the SPARK Interfax information system.
Ranking results
| Ranking | Name | Country | Score, points |
| 1 | Lomonosov Moscow State University | Russia | 100 |
| 2 | Belarusian State University | Belarus | 60 |
| 3 | St. Petersburg State University | Russia | 47 |
| 4 | Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv | Ukraine | 46 |
| 5 | Vilnius University | Lithuania | 40 |
| 6 | Novosibirsk National Research University | Russia | 36 |
| 7+ | People‘s Friendship University of Russia | Russia | 32 |
| 7+ | Bauman Moscow State Technical University - National Research University | Russia | 32 |
| 9+ | University of Tartu | Estonia | 28 |
| 9+ | National Research State University of Tomsk | Russia | 28 |
| 11+ | Yerevan State University | Armenia | 27 |
| 11+ | National Research Nuclear University MEPhI | Russia | 27 |
| 12+ | National Research Polytechnical University of Tomsk | Russia | 26 |
| 12+ | Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University) | Russia | 26 |
| 12+ S | Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Russian Health Ministry | Russia | 26 |
| 12+ | Kazan Federal University | Russia | 26 |
| 17 | Ural Federal University named after the first president of Russia B.N. Yeltsin | Russia | 24 |
| 18+ | St. Petersburg National Research State Polytechnical University | Russia | 22 |
| 18+ | Moscow State Institute of International Relations (university) of the Russian Foreign Ministry | Russia | 22 |
| 20+ | Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod | Russia | 21 |
| 20+ | Al-Farabi Kazakh National University | Kazakhstan | 21 |
| 22 | Novosibirsk State Technical University | Russia | 20 |
| 23 | Siberian Federal University | Russia | 19 |
Notes: Universities are ranked in descending order of consolidated score for education, scientific-research and international activity; each university is attributed to the relevant position in the ranking; if a university has the same consolidated score, these universities share the same highest place, designated with a + sign.
Interfax Deputy General Director Alexei Gorshkov said the "main purpose of the research was to encourage the higher education institutes of the selected countries to communicate and exchange information on their activities; to build inter-country relations with representatives of the expert community of both academics and employers. We hope for further development of this activity, more openness of information in university administrations, international cooperation in developing and implementing joint education and research programs, which will have a direct and positive impact on the development of universities, on increasing their competitiveness and strengthening their presence in international rankings."
***Interfax Information Services Group is the largest diversified information group in the CIS. Since the early nineties, Interfax has been a key source of information on Russia and former Soviet countries for the international community. Interfax offers political and economic news, fundamental and exchange data, along with professional solutions for asset management, marketing, Investor Relations and PR.