This is not the first regional list in QS World University Rankings, however it is the first for BRICS, after many Asia and South America rankings, said Zoya Zaitseva, QS Regional Director, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

To rate BRICS, the formula had to be altered and additional data factored in, she said. Employer surveys for the general ranking take place in spring, but in order to better rate BRICS graduates, employers were surveyed again, in Autumn. In Russia, 5000 employers were contacted and some 600 replied, says Zaitseva. It so happened that most of the respondents were in the consulting business, so the final count was narrowed to only 462 Russian employers. Break-up by industry: #1 consulting, #2 finance, #3 retail trading. Russian universities train specialists in various industries, but these three are unlikely to be top priorities, said Zaitseva, and QS will continue to work on the quality of the expert pool.

Employer opinions had twice the weight in the BRICS university ranking as opposed to the global ranking: 20% versus 10%. Academic achievement was measured not only by quantity (number of publications), but also by quality (references to publications). By mere amount of publications, China easily wins over every other country. Adding quality of publications reduces China’s advantage to less obvious, said Zaitseva. Another change in the formula is the newly added factor of share of teachers with degrees, accounting for a further 10% of the final result.

Still, experienced researchers call the first results for BRICS only the start, said Zaitseva. It may take another two to three years to accumulate data and improve expert pools, only then results will be deemed substantiated and stable, she stressed.

Grigoriy Milov

Project Group №6