The Three University Missions Ranking

The Three University Missions Moscow International University Ranking (shortly known as the Moscow Ranking) is a global ranking of academic universities developed by the Russian Association of Rating Makers, with the participation of the international association IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence. The ranking evaluates the quality of education and scientific work, and for the very first time in international practice, the university’s contribution to society, as well — a criterion, rarely assessed by other academic rankings. Another unique feature of the ranking is the consideration of the “Number of alumni with an individual article about them on Wikipedia”.

The ranking is published annually since 2017.

History[]

Plans were first announced in 2016 for the development of a new international ranking that would evaluate not only the quality of education and research, but also the level of international cooperation, and the contribution to sustainable development and distance education.^[1] The operator of the ranking, the non-profit Association of Rating Makers, was established by the International Group RAEX and leading Russian rating agencies and ranking compilers.^[2]

The pilot version of the ranking was published in December 2017.^[3] It included 200 universities from 39 countries.^[4]

The second issue of the ranking, published in November 2018, included 333 universities from 53 countries. The 2019 table included more than 1200 universities; in 2020, the number has risen to 1500 universities from 97 countries and territories^[5] In 2021, MosIUR included a record-high list of 1.650 higher education institutions, making it the most representative among academic rankings the moment the ranking was published. ^[6]

Methodology[]

Methodology development[]

The methodology of the ranking system was developedin collaboration with more than 100 organizations – universities, councils of rectors, rating agencies, and expert associations, notably the IREG Observatory on Academic Rankings and Excellence and the Russian Union of Rectors.^[7] The Expert Council of the ranking comprises experts in the field of higher education from 25 countries, such as the Belgium, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Italy, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, USA, UK, and Russia.^[8]

Indicators[]

According to the current version of the methodology, the ranking uses 16 indicators divided into three groups: Education, Research, and University & Society. The total weight of indicators per group is: Education – 45%, Research – 25%, University and Society – 30%.

Education group indicators

1.       Number of student wins in international student contests.

2.       Percentage of international students.

3.       University budget to student ratio.

4.       Student to academic staff ratio.

Research group indicators

5.       IREG List awards won by university academic staff and alumni

6.       Average normalised citation impact (global level)

7.       Average normalised citation impact (national level)

8. Research income per academic staff member

University and Society group indicators

9.       Number of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

10.       Share of the university in total national publications

11.       Total pages of a university's website indexed by the leading search engines

12.       Views of the university's page on Wikipedia

13.       University's followers in social media

14.       Number of alumni with an individual article about them on Wikipedia

15.       University website reach

16.       Transparency

International audit[]

In May 2018, the ranking received a report on its audit by PwC.^[9] The “Three University Missions” ranking thus became the second global academic ranking, after Times Higher Education, that passed this procedure.^[10]

Rankings[]

The 2017 pilot ranking comprised 200 universities from 39 countries, including 13 Russian universities. The most widely represented nations in the ranking were universities in the United States, the UK, and China, with 41, 18, and 14 universities in the top 200, respectively.^[11]

The 2018 ranking includes 333 universities from 53 countries, including 17 Russian universities. In the top 333 of the second issue of the ranking, 61 universities from the USA are represented, followed by the UK (29 universities) and Germany (25 universities).^[12]

The 2019 ranking table featured 1200 universities representing 79 countries.^[13] The latest ranking issue released in August 2020 listed 1500 higher education institutions from 97 countries. The most represented nations in the 2020 list were United States, China, and Russia, represented by 200, 122, and 101 institutions respectively.

The latest — fifth — issue of MosIUR, released in August 2021, included 1650 higher education institutions, representing 97 countries and territories. Harvard and MIT topped the ranking in 2021, same as last year. The University of Tokyo demonstrated best results among Asian universities (12th place). The best university in Australia and Oceania is the University of Melbourne (40th place), in Latin America — the National Autonomous University of Mexico (117th). The University of Cape Town scored highest among African universities — 161st.

Russia is represented with 112 universities in the actual issue of the ranking with the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Saint Petersburg State University and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology taking leading positions among Russian universities (19th, 36th and 44th places, correspondingly).

Reaction[]

The ranking attracted the interest of a number of representatives of the rating community and researchers, who particularly noted the innovativeness of the ranking in terms of its assessment of the interaction between universities and society.

According to the president of the Perspektywy education foundation, Waldemar Siwinski, the ranking "goes beyond traditional ranking criteria, adding some new, more socially oriented elements".^[14]

In an interview with the Brazilian publication Folha de S. Paulo, the president of the international association IREG Observatory on Academic Rankings and Excellence, Luiz Claudio Costa, noted that “the new Moscow International University Ranking represents the second generation of academic rankings and <...> poses correct and important questions by its search for indicators to evaluate the quality of teaching and the interaction of the university with society”.^[15]

The president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA, USA), Judith Eaton, called the release of the ranking timely, in view of the growing recognition that the social role of a university is one of its key functions. She views the ranking as an attempt to move away from the elitist approach of evaluating universities, instead paying special attention to the social responsibility of higher education.^[16]

An expert on academic rankings from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands), Jules van Rooij, criticized the ranking, noting that, despite a number of "good ideas," "[the compilers] of the ranking measure only what they want to measure" and "quality can't be assessed with simple linear lists".^[17]

Jack Grove, columnist for World University Rankings, was also skeptical about the ranking, noting that the exceptional achievements of Russian universities in the ranking had Russian roots.^[18]

The ranking was discussed in a number of academic studies^{[19][20][21][22]} along with the leading global university rankings – Times Higher Education, QS, ARWU, etc. An article by Ivančević & Luković (2018) points out that the Moscow International University Ranking is the only global academic ranking considered in their study that covers all “performance dimensions.” Zadorozhnyuk et al. (2018) noted the innovative use of the “University and Society” group criteria in the ranking. In addition to “The Three University Missions” ranking, the assessment of the university's contribution to society is also used by the Washington Monthly College Rankings and THE Impact Rankings.^[23]

References[]

Links[]

• The Three University Missions Ranking Methodology (November 2018).
• Methodology. Audit report.