HSE Improves its Standing in QS University and Facutly Ratings

For the first time the University is listed among the top Arts & Humanities institutions, taking 289^th place globally and 3^rd place within Russia. HSE was also ranked 2^nd place within Russia in the faculty ranking Social Sciences & Management, rising from 232^nd place globally in 2014 to 161^st place globally this year.

HSE showed improvements across all indicators and all aspects of the institutional (university) rating, based on six key performance indicators: academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (10%), international faculty and international student ratios (5% each), student-to-faculty ratio (20%) and citations-per faculty member (20%). HSE was awarded 10^th place among Russian educational institutions (it was 11^th in 2014) and in the global rating held its position in the 501-550 bracket.

‘In 2015 competition for a place in the rating intensified — as a number of new universities from China and India took part. That’s why two Russian universities dropped out of the top 600. We not only held our positions, we improved them, and that is a very good result,’ said Yaroslav Kuzminov, HSE Rector. ‘And it is worth bearing in mind that the university rating is less likely to change and responds later to changes in universities than the subject rating does.’

While the university rating relies on surveys of a diverse pool of experts from different fields, the faculty rating involves experts ranking institutions in their own fields. This year HSE significantly increased the proportion of international students and faculty members. The volume of publications in magazines and on the Scopus and Web of Science databases almost doubled.

This year, HSE significantly increased the proportion of international students and teachers. The number of publications in magazines and on Scopus and Web of Science databases almost doubled

In 2015, the methodology behind QS university and faculty rankings changed. ‘For example, from this year the results of the expert surveys going back five years are included, not three years as in the past. We have seen fundamental changes in rating publication levels: publications with a high number of co-authors or affiliated universities have been excluded; as have separate publication categories; the research citation frequency in different sectors has balanced out,’ noted Liudmila Solntseva, Director at HSE’s Ranking Information Centre.

Despite these changes, HSE improved its ranking thanks to achievements delivering on the targets set out in its road-map. ‘This year, HSE significantly increased the proportion of international students and teachers. The number of publications in magazines and on Scopus and Web of Science databases almost doubled. In addition, we improved our standing in terms of our reputation among academic experts,’ Kuzminov said.

The faculty rankings also recognized improved academic results and improved research publication quality (the QS sectoral ranking, unlike the institutional one, largely depends on reputational indicators — academic reputation and employer reputation (up to 90%) — combined with Scopus data on academic publications.

It is worth recalling that this spring, HSE was recognized one of the top-100 in the QS subject ranking in development studies. HSE is the only Russian university to make it onto that prestigious rating. HSE is also the only Russian university to be included in the ranking on subject areas such as Economics and Econometrics and Sociology (151-200 segment). The fourth area of the ranking to recognize HSE was the Philosophy section, which placed HSE in the 151-200 bracket.