HSE Outranks Russian Universities in 10 QS Subject Rankings

This year, HSE University has entered four additional QS World University Rankings by Subject, thereby bringing its grand total of represented broad and specific subject areas to 23. HSE ranks in 19 of the 38 subject rankings that include Russian universities, as well as in four of the ranking’s five broad subject areas. HSE is among the world’s top 100 universities in five subjects, including History and Social Policy & Administration, where it has entered the rankings for the first time.

1st

place among Russian universities in terms of subject ranking improvement

2nd

place among Russian universities in the number of subject rankings

1st

place in 10 subjects among Russian universities

5

HSE ranks among the world’s top 100 universities in 5 subjects

4/5

HSE ranks in 4 of the 5 broad subject areas

1st place among Russian universities in terms of subject ranking improvement

HSE University has improved its standing in seven subjects and three broad subject areas, and it has entered three additional subject rankings for the first time. These additional rankings include Social Policy & Administration (where it immediately ranked in the top 100), Art & Design, and Statistics & Operational Research (where it ranked in the 151 -200 range).

2nd place among Russian universities in the number of subject rankings

The three highest represented Russian universities in the subject rankings have not changed from last year. Moscow State University is represented in 30 subject rankings, HSE University is represented in 19, and St. Petersburg State University is represented in 16. 80% of the top 15 Russian universities placing in the QS subject rankings are institutions participating in the Russian Academic Excellence Project 5-100.

1st place in 10 subjects among Russian universities

HSE University now outranks all Russian universities in 10 subjects: Art & Design; History; Psychology; Accounting & Finance; Business & Management; Economics & Econometrics; Education; Sociology; Social Policy & Administration; and Politics & International Relations. HSE is also the only Russian university to be represented in the Social Policy & Administration and Art & Design rankings.

In 5 subjects, HSE ranks among the world’s top 100 universities

This year, HSE added two additional subjects to its list of top 100 world-ranked subject offerings, thereby bringing its total of top 100-ranked subjects to five: History; Politics & International Relations; Economics & Econometrics; Sociology; and Social Policy & Administration. HSE also ranks in the top 100 in the broad subject area of Social Sciences & Management, where it rose to 59^th place. HSE’s highest ranking – 48^th – is in Politics & International Relations. These subjects all fall within the core academic disciplines the University has offered since its founding.

HSE ranks in 4 of the 5 broad subject areas

The QS rankings include five broad subject areas. This year, HSE University increased its presence in the lists by ranking in the Natural Sciences category. This new placement is significant given that HSE’s faculties in this field were launched only recently. The Faculty of Geography was established in 2019, while the Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology and the Faculty of Chemistry were created in 2018. To date, HSE’s position in the Natural Science category is largely due to its ranking in the Mathematics subject ranking, where it places in the top 150.

The 2020 QS Subject Rankings include 36 Russian universities, 15 of which are participants of the Russian Academic Excellence Project 5-100. 11 Russian universities rank among the world’s top 100 universities in various subjects, and five of these universities are Project 5-100 participants. Together, Russian universities occupy a total of 190 positions in the subject rankings, with 60% of them being occupied by Project 5-100 universities.

‘Certainly, one of the success factors in these rankings is a significant improvement in the global reputation of Russian universities, primarily due to the Russian Academic Excellence Project, which aims to promote the competitiveness of Russian universities,’ says Irina Karelina, Senior Director for Strategic Planning at HSE University.

The QS World University Rankings by Subject are based upon four indicators: academic reputation, reputation among employers, publication citations, and the H-index, which is based on the number of articles per researcher and the frequency with which their publications are cited.

Tatiana Rivchun, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Communications, Media, and Design

When HSE opened its track in Art and Design in 2012, it was a single undergraduate programme with 130 students. At that time, our goal was to place in the top 200 programmes by 2020. A lot has changed since then. Now, at the HSE School of Art and Design, we offer three bachelor’s programmes, six master’s programmes, a doctoral programme, and continuing education programmes. We have more than 2,500 students enrolled in our programmes. Every year, we hold an international conference and host prominent artists and designers from all over the world who give lectures and lead workshops. Our students not only participate in international competitions, but they often win. In addition, we are proud to provide our faculty and students a creative atmosphere: we opened our Gallery of Modern Art, and we are currently sending two student groups to the Prague School of Cinema. And this is only the beginning. Within the next decade, we hope to place among the top universities in art and design worldwide.

Leonid Gokhberg, First Vice Rector, Director, Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge

HSE’s top 200 ranking in Statistics is quite natural, I think. HSE is Russia’s largest educational and research centre in this area, and we have been widely recognized in the international community. We not only offer high-quality educational programmes that attract international students, but many of our experts participate in international studies and the development of statistical standards for globally renowned organizations (in areas such as statistics of science, innovation, digital economy, education, employment, demography, and market research). Additional big contributors to HSE’s reputation have been our international conferences held here on campus, our regular publication of statistical collections, and our training programmes for statistical services in various countries.

Andrey Klimenko, Academic Supervisor, Institute for Public Administration and Governance

Over the past year, we have launched two new master's programmes as well as Russia’s first doctoral programme in public administration and governance. Our research journal, Public Administration Issues, now publishes issues in English, and our foreign colleagues actively publish their research with us.

Alexander Kamenskii, Head of School of History

HSE has become home to a unique team of historians recognized by the international academic community. Their many books and articles are well known and widely cited by our foreign colleagues. Thanks to our research centres and laboratories, HSE is known to historians around the world for its conferences and research projects, as well as the lectures and courses that our faculty members present all over the world.

Andrei Melville, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences

The Faculty of Social Sciences has made significant progress and is a leader in all QS 2020 indicators. We now rank 48^th in the world in Politics and International Relations and continue to rank 1^st in this area among universities in Russia for the second year in a row. In Sociology, we continue to rank among the world’s top 100, and we have been Russia’s leading university in this area for 3 years now. And this year, we had a pleasant surprise: for the first time, we placed among the top 100 universities worldwide in Social Policy & Administration. In this subject, too, we are now the number 1 Russian university. What can we attribute this progress to? I think we can attribute it to a lot of things: our publication citations, our professional reputation, our international laboratories and projects, our active participation in international professional associations, our new degree conferment system, and much more.