1st

place is the ranking held by the HSE University’s English-language website according to a study of university websites conducted by the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC). The rating assessed the websites of 67 universities in Russia.

HSE remains the undisputed leader of the rating, earning 97 out of a possible 108 points and outpacing the closest Russian competitor by 13 points. Second and third places are held by Ural Federal University and ITMO University, which each have 84 and 82 points, respectively. Broadly speaking, the study notes that of the 65 universities that were represented in the rating last year, 38 (58.4% of the total) improved their scores.

Conducted for the fourth time, the study is based on 108 parameters that are divided into 16 conceptual blocks – university structure and history, admissions requirements, educational programmes, student life, alumni, academic research, etc.

A comparison was also made with 10 foreign universities that are part of the Top 100 of the QS rating and that come from countries where English is not the native language. Considered in the analysis were universities from Europe (University of Amsterdam, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Heidelberg University and ENS Paris), Asia (Tsinghua University, University of Tokyo, and KAIST), and the Middle East (Qatar University and Abu Dhabi University). The overall index shows that in terms of content, the websites of universities leading the Russian rating are outperforming those of universities that lead the QS rating.