The ninth edition of the global ranking "Three University Missions" has been published. In 2025, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education (MSUPE) retained its position in the ranking and became one of four universities under the Ministry of Education of Russia included in the "Three University Missions".
In total, the 2025 ranking features 2,000 universities from 112 countries, including 156 participants from Russia.
The Moscow International University Ranking ("Three University Missions" ranking) is a fundamentally new academic ranking that for the first time evaluates all three key missions of a university: education, science, and interaction with society.
The ranking methodology underwent large-scale public discussion involving over 100 universities. The ranking uses only objective criteria based on official data (including universities' public reports) and data from authoritative international information providers. Reputation surveys are completely excluded.
The ranking was initiated by the Russian Rectors' Union in accordance with the instructions of Russian President V.V. Putin. The ranking operator is the Association of Ranking Compilers (ARC), whose members include leading ranking and research centers.
The pilot version of the Moscow International University Ranking "Three University Missions" was published in December 2017. Since 2020, the ranking has been published annually in August. The ranking has successfully passed an independent audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit, part of the global PwC network.
Moscow State University of Psychology and Education (MSUPE) has once again been ranked among the Top 10% of the world's best universities in the Global Aggregated Ranking 2026.
The seventh edition of the ranking incorporates 13 of the most authoritative global institutional rankings, along with a consolidated database of accredited programs from European and Asian quality assurance agencies. In total, the ranking includes nearly 4,000 universities from 139 countries.
165 Russian universities are present in the Global Aggregated Ranking — 12 more than the previous year. China leads in the number of universities (523), followed by the USA (393), India (223), and Russia ranks fourth.
- Global rankings demonstrate international comparability among inherently diverse and unequal systems and institutions.
- The Global Aggregated Ranking evaluates rankings comprehensively, providing an objective perspective on a university’s position and role in global educational processes while accounting for the specifics of local education systems.
- The ranking has harmonized a diverse array of rankings and assessed the standing of universities within their regions in the context of global education.
The Guild of Experts in Professional Education, in collaboration with the National Foundation for Supporting Innovations in Education, has compiled the Subject Global Aggregated Ranking 2026. Russian universities are assessed in two categories: among countries of the former USSR and within the BRICS+ nations.
According to the ranking results, MSUPE has been placed in the First League in the subject areas:
In 2026, the ranking included 194 Russian universities. The analysis was expanded with two new subject rankings — RUR and SCImago.
Global subject rankings have become a key tool for comparing diverse educational systems, as they evaluate universities across specific training areas. The analysis is based on the OECD international classification, which includes 39 subject areas.
The Guild of Experts in Professional Education, in collaboration with the National Foundation for Supporting Innovations in Education, has compiled the Subject National Aggregated Ranking 2026.
MSUPE retained its position and entered the 1st League of the ranking. Among universities under the Ministry of Education of Russia, MSUPE ranks in the top three.
In particular, MSUPE received the highest positions in the following sub-rankings: Employment, Tabiturient, International Recognition, Professional and Public Accreditation, Quality of Education, Monitoring of University Efficiency, Brand Analytics, and others.
The 2026 ranking covers 732 universities included in the new Efficiency Monitoring of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
This year, the methodology was updated: the HeadHunter and "National Recognition" rankings were excluded due to lack of updates since 2024. They were replaced by new sources:
- Employment Ranking (Rostrud methodology) — assesses the demand for full-time graduates two years after graduation based on data from Rosobrnadzor and the Social Fund of Russia. Key criteria: median salary and share of employed graduates.
- Tabiturient Ranking — based on student reviews and analysis of student sentiment (included since 2025).
- Integrated Communication Effectiveness Ranking by Brand Analytics — evaluates the university's interaction with applicants, students, government, business, and the media (included since 2025).
The updated model provides a more accurate picture of how well education meets the real demands of the economy.
The RAEX agency has published its annual subject rankings of Russian universities. MSUPE remains in the Top 5 among all Russian universities in the "Psychology" subject area, ranking 4th place nationwide and maintaining 1st place among universities under the Ministry of Education of Russia.
In the "Pedagogical Education (Pedagogy)" subject area, MSUPE entered the top three among pedagogical universities and ranked 11th nationwide.
The subject rankings are based on an assessment of three university missions: educational, scientific, and social. They answer the question: which universities provide the best educational and scientific training in a specific subject area, considering the university's contribution to social development?
The rankings rely exclusively on objective indicators and do not use expert surveys.
Educational mission indicators include: quality of admitted applicants, staffing, competitiveness of master's programs, funding volume, student performance at national olympiads, and the number of massive open online courses.
Science indicators include: bibliometric indicators (publications and citations) according to Web of Science and RSCI databases, research income adjusted for scale, scale of training of highly qualified personnel (postgraduate studies), number of dissertation defenses, and the share of non-budgetary sources in total R&D expenditures.
Social mission indicators include: the university's contribution to regional staff training, the share of students in the field nationwide, the share of targeted admissions, the share of first-year students from other regions, income from additional education programs, the variety of knowledge at the university level, website audience, social media followers, and media mentions.
The Interfax information group has released the results of the latest ranking study of higher education programs in the "Psychology" field. MSUPE entered the Top 10 of the ranking, taking 7th place with a total of 872 points.
The ranking evaluated 120 universities with a student population of over 100. The published part of the ranking included 60 Russian universities.
Key assessment categories and MSUPE's positions:
- Administration Assessment – MSUPE entered the top three (number of taught disciplines, share of teaching staff with advanced degrees, number of proprietary online courses, number of partner universities, number of authored textbooks, number of organizations with targeted training contracts, involvement of students and postgraduates in research, graduate participation in program development, targeted student training).
- Faculty Assessment – 1st place (use of university-authored textbooks, presence of psychology textbooks published during 2021–2025, participation in the development and implementation of online courses, participation in R&D, recommendation to enroll).
- Student Assessment – 16th place (clarity of material presentation, practice-orientation, content and logic of course structure, usefulness of textbooks, organization of internships, relevance of future work to the specialty, recommendation to enroll).
- Graduate Assessment – 1st place (same characteristics as student assessment + participation in the development of the program, department, faculty, university, connection of current work to the specialty obtained).
- Program Reputation – 5th place (number of publications and media mentions in the context of psychological education during 2025 – June 2026).
The ranking took into account data provided by universities, surveys of faculty, students, and graduates, data from the national bibliometric system RSCI, results of the All-Russian Student Olympiad "I am a Professional," and data on professional-public accreditation.
The national employment rankings of university graduates have been published on the "Work in Russia" portal. The rankings are prepared by order of the Russian President and are part of the national project "Cadres".
MSUPE graduates ranked:
- 1st place in Psychology and 4th nationwide (among all Russian universities) for both Bachelor's/Specialist's and Master's levels.
- 2nd place among universities under the Ministry of Education in Pedagogical Education and 9th nationwide for both Bachelor's/Specialist's and Master's levels.
- 1st place among universities under the Ministry of Education in Sociology and Social Work and 4th nationwide for both Bachelor's/Specialist's and Master's levels.
The rankings are based on two key indicators:
- Share of employed full-time graduates in the second year after graduation
- Median salary of graduates in the second year of employment
The ranking data comes from Rosobrnadzor and is supplemented by information from the Social Fund of Russia. A total of 1,000 Russian universities are represented in the 2026 rankings across 52 broad fields of study.
This year, the rankings have become more detailed: groups of specialties and training areas have been identified within educational fields.
On March 24, at the international press center of the media group "Russia Today" in Moscow, the results of the Integrated Communication Effectiveness Ranking were presented, compiled based on a comprehensive study of the 2025 results.
MSUPE entered the top 5 among universities under the Ministry of Education of Russia, and also became a leader in the "Presence in Popular Science Media" category among all pedagogical universities in Russia.
Among all 615 universities that took part in the ranking, MSUPE took 42nd place, improving its 2024 result by five positions.
The Integrated Ranking is based on the results of an annual research cycle and represents an integral indicator of the effectiveness of a university's communication strategy, allowing for a comprehensive assessment of communication effectiveness with key target audiences: applicants, students, government agencies, business representatives, and the media.
The integral indicator is calculated as the sum of indices scaled to a 100-point scale for each ranking category: audience engagement on its own resources, presence in popular science media, and presence in media and social media.
The ranking is implemented by the "Social Navigator" project of the international media group "Russia Today" and the social media and media analysis system Brand Analytics.
Forbes magazine has published its ranking of the best Russian universities for 2025. The long-list included 564 universities from various regions of Russia. The Top 100 list includes educational institutions where students receive high-quality knowledge and graduates quickly find good jobs and build successful careers.
MSUPE took 97th place with a score of 20.63.
Forbes evaluated universities according to 17 criteria grouped into five metrics:
- Networking Quality – average Unified State Exam score (70%) and share of winners and prize-winners of Russian and international olympiads among students (30%).
- Employer Reputation – formed on the basis of a survey of 64 companies from the Forbes list of Russia's best employers.
- International Reputation – presence in prestigious world rankings (ARWU, THE, QS), both institutional and subject-specific.
- Academic Environment – salary level of teachers, their qualifications, program internationalization, financial sustainability, and student-to-teacher ratio.
- Forbes Factor – points awarded for the number of graduates included in the Forbes list of Russian billionaires.
MSUPE received 6.67 points for the Academic Environment and 13.96 points for Networking Quality.
Annually, analysts from the HeadHunter service evaluate Moscow universities and individual faculties to determine which ones produce the most in-demand and successful specialists in the labor market.
The HeadHunter ranking of graduate employment success identifies faculties and universities in Moscow whose graduates receive more interview invitations, are offered higher salaries, and more frequently seek jobs in their field compared to competitors.
Key indicators considered:
- Graduate employability
- Average salary of young specialists
- Proportion of graduates' resumes posted in their field of study
HeadHunter Ranking – Best Moscow Faculties in "Psychology" (2022-2023)
| Faculty | Position |
|---|---|
| Faculty of "Social Psychology" MSUPE | 6th place |
| Faculty of "Psychology of Education" MSUPE | 7th place |
HeadHunter Ranking – Best Moscow Faculties in "Human Resource Management" (2022-2023)
| Faculty/Program | 2022-2023 |
|---|---|
| Faculty of "Social Psychology" MSUPE. Program "Human Resource Management" | 7th place |
Note: The HeadHunter ranking for "Psychology" was introduced in 2022-2023; data for 2024–2026 have not been updated.
The portal "Tabiturient.ru" has published its university ranking based on student feedback.
In the Global Composite Ranking of Pedagogical Universities of Russia 2025, 37 pedagogical universities were evaluated based on 9 indicators. Data was collected from enrollment orders, budget place orders, and data from Tabiturient.ru.
MSUPE entered the top three leaders with a total score of 106.25.
Indicators considered:
- Weighted average passing score – average Unified State Exam score per subject for those admitted to state-funded places, adjusted for the number of budget places (last 3 years).
- Number of "olympiad students" – share of those admitted through olympiads among all budget entrants and their share among all olympiad winners in Russia.
- Student assessment – evaluation based on student reviews and analysis of student sentiment.
- Budget places – number of budget places per field of study; share of budget places among all places in Russian universities; share of educational programs without budget places.
- Tuition cost – average cost of full-time Bachelor's and Specialist's programs.
Ranked 6th place in the "Integrated Communication Effectiveness Ranking 2024" among all pedagogical universities in Russia, as well as the absolute leader in the "Presence in Popular Science Media" category among Russian pedagogical universities.
47th place among all 614 universities participating in the ranking and 28th place among 123 Moscow universities.
The ranking was conducted by the "Social Navigator" project of the international media group "Russia Today" and the social media and media analysis system Brand Analytics.
Note: For 2025–2026, MSUPE has improved its positions — see the "Brand Analytics – Top 5 Among Pedagogical Universities" section above.