Ranking universities: Moscow State University and Higher School of Economics are the leaders

 

Author: VK  

The Russian Union of Rectors and the Higher School of Economics (HSE) presented the rating of Russian universities in accordance with the preferences of student-winners of school competitions in 2012. The first two positions are held by MSU and the HSE. The top 10 included the Moscow Physical-Technical Institute and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Some educational institutions entered the top 20 for the first time - the Urals Federal University, Tomsk State University, Siberian State Medical University and the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 

 

According to the rector of HSE, Yaroslav Kuzminov, "Olympiads are an important channel for our high school completion, which was formed virtually simultaneously with the Unified State Exam (USE), and without which the exam would work less efficiently. What matters is that there is selection by acquired knowledge, but there is also selection by talent. There is selection by completeness, perfection of mastering the curriculum, and there is a selection of those who went beyond the school program, who are interested in this or that subject, who show their personality, their creative independence, and higher education needs both channels. It is very important that the Olympiads, organized by the Ministry of Education and Science, the All-Russian Olympiads, work effectively. The Russian Union of School Olympiads, which works on the basis of the Russian Rectors' Union, is headed by Viktor Sadovnichy.

What are the criteria of efficiency and public acceptance of these competitions?

First, the Olympiads should be absolutely transparently organized. Extremely important here is the reputation of the university holding an Olympiad. To remove doubts that may arise due to the fact that it is not the exam, the degree of protection of works is lower, and the degree of subjectivity in assessing the results is higher, we suggest that universities organize Olympiads on an inter-institutional basis. This allows any feeling to be overcome that one university organized it for itself and will accept participants according to personal connections. Now most competitions held by the Russian Council Olympiads are Olympiads organized by whole groups of universities on an equal basis.
Secondly, the Olympiads should not start in the last graduating class. Since we will organize creative contests only in the last, 11th grade, society will naturally perceive it simply as a conduit for admission to universities; and instead of selecting and promoting talent, we will witness preparations for the Olympiads with tutors, like now students prepare for the USE with tutors, and thus the originally noble goal is profaned. Therefore, Olympiads should start earlier, in the eighth grade, or the seventh grade.
This year, the number of Olympiads starting earlier than the 10th and 11th grades have significantly increased. This, of course, indicates the growth of public confidence in Olympiads and interest in creative competitions, not in entering a particular higher institution through Olympiads."

 According to the general secretary of the Russian Union of Rectors, Olga Kashirina, "for three years, HSE, together with the Union of Rectors, has been conducting a study of academic preferences of the Olympiads' participants; we identify new phenomena in the field of education and beyond. The top 10 of the university ranking includes, first, five Moscow Universities, and then federal and national research institutes, which certainly confirms their social and business reputations, and a growing students' interest in them. In addition, we note the strengthening of the role of regional universities. They are not so small for their regions, but on the all-Russian scale they are not yet known and not included in the top 40. These Altai State University and universities in Tomsk, which are not national research institutions. This is a very valid marker for the academic policy pursued by universities. I found out higher educational institutions which do not organize Olympiads, but the students participating in the Olympiads in the capital cities go back there. There is a brain drain into the provinces, and it also requires the study of social portraits of the people who go to the Far East, to Siberia, in order to get education. This is facilitated not only by a very strong personal aspirations of pupils and parents, and by a new position of academic institutions in these regions, but also by strong marketing strategies, which are already beginning to form.
In addition, we are talking about infrastructure projects, social and economic policy in general. The Far East this year was the absolute leader in terms of the inflow of competition winners. APEC  is just one example. In the small settlement of Uglegorsk in the Amur region, the cosmodrome "East" is under construction, and this project is connected to network projects of several universities both from Moscow and from the Far East and the Urals. South Ural State University is involved in this project, too. Next year also will reveal strengthening of this region, because migration demonstrates public confidence in the enormous project, the priority being given to the development of the region today."

 "The proportion of higher educational institutions of Russia, which are considered by Olympiad winners as institutions with good, strong reputations, increased," Yaroslav Kuzminov says. "We used to speak of about 40-50 universities, we can now speak about 70-100 universities. Restoring the confidence of the public, of the applicants in a wider group of institutions of higher education indicates the recovery, the rebirth of our higher education. If we take the top 20, there are some changes, but they are small. Now Urals Federal University and Tomsk State University, which at the last stage simply did not provide the data because they didn't have enough competition winners, now entered the top 20. Now they have taken, respectively, the 12th and 14th positions. The top 20 also now includes the Siberian Medical University, a very strong institution, which immediately received 103 applicants, as well as the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. We can see that even the top 20 accepted new institutions, and the top 20 means more than 80 Olympiad winners, which is quite a big number."