HSE Leads Russian Universities in Four QS Subject Rankings

HSE took first place among Russian universities in subject rankings for Sociology and Economics & Econometrics (101-150 globally). In Business & Management Studies and Accounting & Finance, HSE ranked first and is currently the only Russian university in the ranking, placing in the 151-200 group.

At the same time, HSE improved its ranking in Economics & Econometrics and Sociology over last year, when it was in 151-200 group. ‘These two areas are HSE’s specialization, and this advancement is the result of a systematic effort. In 2015, we overcame the threshold to enter the ranking on number of publications, immediately placing in the 151-200 group out of 744 global universities that took part in the ranking. This year, HSE managed to improve by advancing to the 101-151 group’, noted Liudmila Solntseva, Director of the Ranking Information Centre.

In addition, this year HSE entered the ranking for the subject ‘Politics and International Studies’ for the first time, placing in the 101-150 group out of more than 500 global universities. Among Russian universities, HSE took second place.

In Mathematics, HSE found itself in the 251-300 group out of more than 900 universities, taking fifth place in Russia. In Computer Science & Information Systems, the university placed in the 401-450 group out of more than 1,000 global universities, ranking sixth in Russia.

For the second year in a row, the university entered the 151-200 group in Philosophy, where over 500 universities participate in the ranking.

In total this year, eight subjects taught at HSE are represented in the ranking.

‘Traditionally, Russian universities have been represented in international rankings in the natural sciences and engineering, while as recently as 2013, there were no Russian universities in the humanities, social and economic sciences’, said Yaroslav Kuzminov, HSE Rector. ‘This was due to the fact that our research in these areas has long been limited to national themes. Academic papers in these areas have generally been published in Russian, which was reflected in low citation levels and academic reputation, which form the basis of subject rankings. The Higher School of Economics has become one of the first Russian universities that managed to demonstrate high performance in these areas on a global level’.

According to Kuzminov, activities such as promoting a competitive research environment, participating in international network projects, and creating a system to support scholarly English-language publications in leading international journals that are indexed in bibliometric systems all help to advance HSE in international rankings.

In 2016, 17 Russian universities entered the QS subject rankings. A year ago, there were only 10 of them, and in 2014, only two Russian universities were recognized internationally. The number of subjects where Russian universities are represented has also grown.

Universities that participate in the 5-100 project have made considerable contributions. Last year, they entered 13 QS groups by subject, while in 2015, they were only represented only in nine subjects. In 2013, when the 5-100 project began, none of the participating universities made the QS subject ranking. Such advancement in international rankings is a sign that project participants are moving in the right direction; the Higher School of Economics is a leader in this regard.

‘Key parameters in the subject rankings are citation levels and academic reputation; in addition, universities must exceed the barrier by number of publications in the respective areas over a period of five years. The last indicator explains why it is impossible to immediately see the results of participation in the 5-100 project. A certain time must pass before the work is reflected in the ranking’, Kuzminov noted.