Novosibirsk State University entered the top 500 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (2017) according to the Center for the Study of World-Class Universities (CSWCU) at the Academy of Higher Education Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
The rating, prepared by an independent organization, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, is designed to assess the scientific superiority of the world's leading universities. The rating has been published annually since 2003 and includes the top 500 universities in the world. It is recognized as one of the oldest and most authoritative higher education rankings.
NSU was first ranked among the best universities in the world in 2016. In the new rating, Novosibirsk State University slightly improved its positions in the "401-500" group rising fr om 485 to 475. In total, three Russian universities were included in the top 500 universities in the world ranking. In addition to NSU, there is Moscow State University that holds the 93rd position and St. Petersburg State University in the "301-400" group.
"The main competitive advantage and the unique visiting card of NSU is, of course, the high intellectual potential of Akademgorodok wh ere the university is located", said the Vice-Rector for NSU Development Programs Alexei Okunev. Currently, 80% of the pedagogical staff at the University are practicing researchers who work at institutes and companies in Akademgorodok. In this way knowledge at NSU is transferred directly from professionals to students. In addition, within the University young people are starting to participate in real research projects together with regional and global partners.
The University is actively using its capabilities to promote large-scale multidisciplinary projects to explore the Arctic and other hard-to-reach regions using unmanned aerial vehicles and the treatment of oncological diseases using Boron-neutron capture therapy technology. New trends in the field of synthetic biology, nonlinear photonics, archeology, cryptography are developing. As a result of attracting working professionals in "fashionable" spheres to NSU, the number of publications in the journals Nature and Science has increased and the international reputation of the University has improved.
The priorities for NSU now is to launch new education programs for Masters and post-graduate study and attract talented, motivated students. Over the past three years, programs on New Materials (with an emphasis on the use of single-walled carbon nanotubes), Instrument Engineering, Bigdata, Biotechnology, and Astrophysics have been introduced. Some of the programs are oriented to an international audience and the classes are conducted in English.
The goal of NSU is to make the level of education provided by leading foreign universities accessible in Russia, in Siberia. 60 years ago, the idea seemed like a fantasy, but it was achieved by researchers who came and founded Akademgorodok. More than half a century later, the time has come to choose new areas of research and training for students that will not only preserve what we have, but will allow us to take leading positions in some new spheres. The ratings are by no means an end in themselves, but in the world today, the importance of university ratings is so great that when you meet foreign colleagues they are immediately interested in what position NSU has. The ratings provide the first impression of a university and its capabilities. For example, this year we received proposals from several leading foreign universities in Great Britain, China and Australia to develop joint master and postgraduate programs in the fields of High-energy Physics and Astrophysics. In this subject area, NSU is included in the top 50 world universities. Now NSU faces the challenge of converting the existing potential and achievements into the development of new and education programs that are in demand.
The Shanghai rating is recognized as one of the oldest and most authoritative university ratings in the world. It focuses on the evaluation of scientific and academic activities at universities. Universities are assessed on the basis of six indicators. Three of them look at the number of graduates and employees - laureates with Nobel or Fields Prize, the number of frequently cited researchers. Three more indicators assess the number of articles in the journals Nature and Science, the total number of indexed scientific publications and the effectiveness of the university.
