The top 68 best universities in Russia: 2025 rankings

Top ranked universities in Russia

University	QS Ranking 2024	THE Ranking 2024	ARWU Ranking 2023
Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU)	87	95	101
St Petersburg University	315	–	401
Bauman Moscow State Technical University	319	401	–
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia	342	601	–
Kazan Federal University	396	801	–
Higher School of Economics (HSE)	399	401	701
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)	415	201	501
Tomsk State University	418	501	–
Novosibirsk State University	421	601	701
National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute)	461	401	901

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Explained: How do the university rankings work?

The QS World University Rankings are among the most important, most-referenced rankings. The QS ranking relies heavily on its academic survey, asking thousands of academics worldwide about the reputation of universities.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (or the THE Rankings for short) compile a wide range of statistics. Equal weight is put on teaching quality, research excellence, and research impact through citations (meaning how often a university’s research is referenced elsewhere).

The Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (often just Shanghai Ranking, or ARWU) focuses on research output and quality, for example measured by the number of published and cited scientific papers and the number of staff or alumni winning the Nobel Prize or Fields Medal.