Global Universities Ranking

Ranking is based on evaluation and weighing of information provided by each university participating in Ranking. Estimations are weighed, aggregated, rated by the maximum value and adjusted to 100-point scale.

Establishing of Ranking is carried out under the following scenario:

Procedure 1. Selection of circle of participants of Ranking.

Expert pool formed by the Independent Ranking Agency RatER (RatER) has determined that all the world universities participating in the four main global rankings (Shanghai Jiao Tong University (ARWU-500), The Times (QS-THES-200), Webometrics and National Taiwan University) shall necessarily become the request respondents. Besides, the top higher schools of the Russian Federation as well as of the former USSR countries are included in the list of request respondents (the fact that a higher school is a winner of innovation educational program competitions is the criterion for listing).

The officials and managers of the Ranking project do not consider the circle of participants formed on the basis of the above criteria to be final. Any university expressing the willingness to participate in the Project can fill in the Questionnaire and send the electronic and hard copies of that to the e-mail and postal addresses of RatER.

Procedure 2. Communication of requests to universities.

Requests in writing are sent to the addresses of the universities identified as the compulsory participants of Ranking. Moreover, electronic version of the Questionnaire is available for all the universities indicating their willingness to participate in Ranking.

Procedure 3. Data acquisition.

All the universities participating in Ranking shall send their responses to the e-mail address of RatER till the 15^th of October, 2008; hard copies of the responses supporting the electronic responses shall be sent to the address of RatER till the 25^th of October, 2008 at the latest.

With regard to the fact that some responses may be delayed, Project officials and managers gather the information on every university listed as the compulsory participants of Ranking from every source available and, in the first place, from the Web-sites of the universities.

Procedure 4. Data processing.

The information obtained is recorded in electronic worksheets. Every university participating in Ranking is classified by regions, countries and categories.

Procedure 5. Evaluation of information.

Expert pool formed by the Project officials and managers determines the rating scales for every indicator of performance of the universities, for weight of every indicator of a Block and for weight of the score of each Block.

Each expert performs his own evaluation of performance indicators of all the universities. The final evaluation of each indicator is determined as the average of all the expert evaluations. In case when some expert evaluations of an indicator show a spread of more than 15 % a joint expert discussion of this evaluation is held so that its final value is determined based on consensus.

The procedure for evaluation is founded on the principles of the utmost transparency and every inspector or observer can keep track of its execution on the Web site of the Project.

The dates of the beginning and the execution of the Estimation procedure as well as the membership of the Expert pool will be announced.

Procedure 6. Aggregation, rating and adjustment of evaluations; formation of Ranking.

Weighed Block-by-Block evaluations are summed, rated by the maximum value and adjusted to 100-point scale. Ranking of universities by each Block of indicators is possible.

Block-by-Block evaluations are weighed, summed, rated by the maximum value and adjusted to 100-point scale.

Summary ranking of world universities is formed.

Procedure 7. Presentation of Ranking, holding of virtual discussion of Ranking, analysis of the results; updating of indicators (determination of new indicators), updating of Ranking procedures with a view to repeat it during further activities of the universities.

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The data obtained from the universities describe the levels of academic and research performances, of availability of resources, of socially significant activities of the graduates and of international activities as well as reflect the opinion of the academic community on the top foreign universities.

The level of academic performance of the university is characterized by the following indicators:

1. Number of educational programs implemented in the university during the completed academic year by each three levels of training and study.

The indicator characterizes the level of diversification of the university and the scope of the academic activities, that is, the arrangement of transfer of, in particular, the general knowledge to students.

2. Total number of the full-time faculty of the university in the completed academic year.

The indicator characterizes the scope of the university and its potential capacity for academic activities, enables to determine the number of the faculty adjusted for the number of students and is used for determination of other relative indicators.

3. Number of students studied in the university during 2007/2008 academic year by levels of training and study.

The indicator characterizes the scope of the university activities and is used for determination of other relative indicators.

4. Winning of the international academic competitions by students of the university starting from 2001.

Participation and winning of the international academic competitions by students of the university is a direct characterization of the quality of the training and of the quality of the student body and an indirect characterization of the expertise of the faculty.

The principle of calculation of results of the academic competitions (6 points for the 1 place, … 1 point for the 6 place) enables to make a sufficient evaluation of the level of the academic activities.

The level of research performance of the university is characterized by the following indicators:

1. Number of certificates on discoveries and patents for inventions obtained by the university and its research officers and scholars starting from 2001.

The indicator is quantitative directly characterizing the research potential capacity of the university and the effectiveness of the existing scientific schools. The year 2001 is chosen as the beginning of the new epoch particularly as the new epoch of development of the world universities.

2. Number of honorary professors (doctors) of the university who are the Nobel Prize winners, the Fields Medal winners and have other world awards starting from 2001.

The indicator is quantitative characterizing the scientific communications with other research universities and centers.

3. Number of world awards (Nobel Prize, Fields Medal, etc.) received by the research officers and scholars of the university starting from 2001.

The indicator is quantitative characterizing the level of recognition of the research performance of the university by international academic and intellectual communities.

The level of the expertise of the faculty is characterized by the following indicators:

1. Total number of publications by the faculty (articles, textbooks and manuals, monographs, etc.) in 2007/2008 academic year.

The indicator characterizes the scope of the intellectual performance of the faculty of the university.

2. Percentage of the faculty of the university having the academic degree as of the last academic year.

The indicator characterizes the level of growth of scientific knowledge of the faculty of the university.

3. Total number of the professors of the university who are the members of the international and national Academies of sciences as of the last academic year.

The indicator characterizes the recognition of the faculty of the university by international academic and intellectual communities.

4. Average indicator of citing and referring to the publications of one lecturer of the university by foreign authors in the last academic year (without regard to the references made by the domestic authors).

The indicator characterizes the level of recognition of the research performance of the faculty of the university by international academic and intellectual communities.

The level of availability of resources of the university is characterized by the following indicators:

1. Total budget of the university as of the last fiscal year including the governmental and regional assignments, donations and contributions, grants, funds earned by rendering of educational services and R&D (mln. of UDS).

The indicator characterizes the aggregate financial strength of the university used to accomplish its tasks and objectives.

2. Total cost of the training and laboratory facilities of the university as of the last fiscal year (mln. of UDS).

The indicator characterizes the research potential capacity of the university.

3. Performance of the computer center of the university (Tflops).

The indicator characterizes the potential capacity of the university to arrange the research work.

The level of the socially significant activities of the graduates of the university is characterized by the following indicator:

1. Total number of the live graduates of the university who achieved the public recognition: prominent men of science, culture and business, politicians, government officials, administrators of territories and cities (with population exceeding 100 thousand), managers and executives of major international organizations (UN, UNESCO, etc.).

The indicator reflects the public evaluation of the performance of the university on national and global scales.

The level of the international activities of the university is characterized by the following indicators:

1. International academic communities in which the university was involved in the last academic year.

The indicator characterizes the scope of the arrangement and the intensity of international scientific and educational communications of the university.

2. Total number of foreign universities who were the partners of bilateral agreements with the university in the last academic year.

The indicator characterizes the level of development of interuniversity cooperation resulting in introduction of innovations into the management of the university.

3. Total number of the officers and scholars of the university who are the honorary professors (doctors) of foreign universities.

The indicator characterizes the level of recognition of the scientific and educational achievements of the university by foreign higher schools.

4. Total number of foreign students who studied in the university in the last academic year.

The indicator characterizes the level of presence of the university at the global market of educational services.

5. Total number of the students of the university who went/ arrived for inclusive education in universities of other countries; total number of the professors of the university who went to foreign universities to conduct lecturing and research work.

The indicator characterizes the level of academic mobility in the university.

The opinion of the experts of the university on the top foreign universities:

Based on the expert survey, ranking of universities is made. The rank of each university is determined by the number of affirmative votes of the experts (consolidated opinion of all the experts of the university is made) for each foreign university (provided that the expert considers all the 10 distinguished universities to be equal ranking).