New university structure in Russia
17 Nov 2009
Russia is in the process of renewing its university structure. From now on, the best higher education institutions will be known as ‘federal universities’, ‘national research universities’ or universities with a special status.
Last October, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law establishing the federal universities. Russia is to have seven such universities in total, within which several regional institutions will be merged. Each university will focus on development of the region where its is located, with the Ural Federal University focusing on the Ural region, for example, and the existing Siberian Federal University on Siberia.
Founded alongside these seven federal universities will be 14 national research universities. This latter group has been selected from among 110 Russian higher education institutions via a tender.
The winning universities:
- The Higher School of Economics in Moscow
- Kazan State Technical University
- Moscow Aviation Institute (State University of Aerospace Technologies)
- Moscow State Technical University, named after N. E. Bauman
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University)
- Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod
- Novosibirsk State University
- Perm State Technical University
- Samara State Aerospace University
- St Petersburg State Mining Institute
- Saint-Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics
- Tomsk Polytechnic University
- National Research Nuclear University
- National University of Science and Technology ‘MISIS’
Under a title that remains valid for ten years, national research universities will be responsible for training highly-qualified specialists for different sectors nationwide. Institutional financing is to come from the state as well as from commercial activities.
Best universities
Russia’s two best universities – Lomonosov Moscow University and Saint-Petersburg State University, both of which are ranked in the Times Higher Education Top 200 – will retain their special status. This means that the two institutions, both founded by Russian government, will get a fully state-funded budget. Both universities will have the freedom to implement their own standards and requirements for study programmes.
According to Russian experts, the new structure has no consequences for Russian students. Rather, the goal is to manage universities in a more effective manner and to achieve higher ratings in both national and international rankings.
For more information please contact Nuffic Neso Russia.