Stay in your places!

The ranking of the world's leading universities (QS World University Rankings 2012) in Russia, published earlier this week, immediately became the subject of lively discussion. Tomsk State University dropped to 580th place from 474th in 2011 - ah-ah, how bad! Tomsk Polytechnic University, on the contrary, rose from 607th place to 567th - ah-ah, how good! Kazan Federal University - dropped 60 places down - oh-oh, save me, help me! Novosibirsk State University has risen up by 29 places - this is a “breakthrough” in domestic education!

Experts interviewed by a Russian news agency claim that “weak international connections, low citation rates in global scientific publications and outdated QS methods prevent Russian universities from taking high positions in the ranking of the world’s leading universities.” “One of the main losses of Russian universities is the lack of serious publications in international publications,” the vice-president of the Russian Academy of Education tells the same agency.

In general, for several years now everyone has been seriously discussing the rating, compiled according to the principle of a regular Internet poll. But the QS website honestly explains the methodology for researching the “academic reputation of universities”: via the Internet, scientists are asked to select from among the “ranked” universities that are currently producing the best research in “their field of expertise.” They can name a certain number of the best universities (in 2011 there were 30). Respondents are not allowed to vote for the institutions they work for and respond more than once during the year. The final ranking - 2012 was based on 46 thousand responses collected over the past three years.

In the survey, conducted by an English company and aimed primarily at an English-speaking audience, higher education institutions in English-speaking countries naturally take the lead. If the survey had been conducted in Russian by some Russian rating agency, ours would have taken the leading positions. How many Russians, I wonder, will make it into the top thirty best athletes of the year compiled in England? How many Englishmen are in our top thirty?

The majority of QS respondents are Americans, and it is clear that any American will fill most of the top thirty with American universities, which he knows well, and, at best, will include a couple of “outsiders” in the list. An Englishman will add twenty or so American ones to his dozen... This is normal. In the voting of Russians, Chinese or, say, Czechs, the situation is the opposite. Not only are there far fewer of them among the respondents, but there was, say, only one Czech university on the list of “rated” ones. And the same Americans inevitably have to reach thirty. In 2011, 18 Russian universities were “rated”, this year - 22... This, of course, is more than two (MSU and St. Petersburg State University), but it still cannot be compared with hundreds of American ones.

By the way, 46 thousand responses seem to be a representative sample only at first glance. In Moscow State University alone. M.V. Lomonosov's teaching and research staff numbers about 11 thousand people, so 46 thousand, if we talk about the ranking, which takes into account 700 universities, is quite a bit. But there are still a huge number of universities that do not appear on the QS list at all.

Scientists' answers give 40% of rating points. Based on other votes - students and employers - another 30% is distributed. Total - 70%. The QS ranking is simply a survey, where the selection of candidates and the selection of participants predetermine the results in terms of the positions of different countries. This is how he should be treated. There is still a struggle for votes between American or English universities, but Russian universities, according to the terms of the survey, can only compete with each other... Tomsk State University dropped to 580th place, and Tomsk Polytechnic University, on the contrary, rose to 567th! What does it mean? It is possible that someone in America, England or Australia, who is not particularly versed in the structure of our higher education, accidentally checked the box next to one Tomsk University instead of another Tomsk University...