CIS Higher Education will be evaluated

10:30, December 3, 2013

Victor Koksharov: CIS university ranking is an effective organizational tool of network cooperation

Ranking of the universities of the Commonwealth of Independent States will help to improve сompetitiveness of these universities on the world market of educational services. The ranking should take into consideration strong points of the former USSR higher education system. To such conclusion came the participants of International Forum, which took place in Moscow on November 27.

Victor Koksharov, rector of Ural Federal University (UrFU, Yekaterinburg) pointed out the fact that such ranking is an effective organizational tool of network cooperation. At the present moment UrFU is a member of CIS Network University Consortium. Students from Armenia, Tadzhikistan and other countries study on master’s programs in UrFU within the frames of this consortium.

Ranking agency “Expert RA” underlines that in world raking CIS universities either take low positions or are not included in them at all. Experts assure: The problem is that the most popular international rakings don’t take into account many competitive distinctive features of CIS universities.  Rectors of the leading universities of Russian Federation are certain that to enhance the prestige of CIS Higher School is possible through cooperation of leading universities with other universities all over the world.

 “At the present stage it’s important to decide what we shall be focused on: Europe or CIS. For whom we are ready to fight: students or scientists, - says general director of “Expert RA” Dmitry Grishankov. – When we answer these questions, we will be ready to move forward”.

 “CIS universities are united by the same educational traditions, - adds UrFU rector Victor Koksharov. – University ranking will give necessary data, which will help to compare advantages, to make operative managerial decisions, which will become a tool of CIS educational policy forming, and will play an important role for school-leavers and their parents”.

The head of Ural Federal University points out two possible approaches: geographical (which was already suggested for BRICS by the THE and QS ranking authors) and networking, which consider  networks between educational institutions of different countries.

International forum of CIS universities “Global Competitiveness” attracted rectors of the leading universities of Russian Federation and guest experts in the field of education and science. We would like to remind, that the forum was conducted by the rating agency “Expert RA”, which is the author of complex research “Rating of Russian Universities”, in which Ural Federal University takes place 15.