Leading Russian Universities

Federal Universities

The main purpose of creating federal universities is to develop a system of higher professional education based on optimizing regional educational structures and strengthening links of universities with the economy and social sphere of federal districts. Also, federal universities contribute to the formation and development of competitive human capital in federal districts through the creation and implementation of innovative services and developments. This mission is implemented through the organization and coordination of work on the balanced provision of qualified personnel, major programs of socio-economic development of territories and regions within the federal district, as well as scientific, technical and technological solutions. Currently, there are 10 federal universities in Russia. They are located in the regions and are the main ones in the federal districts, and their list does not include the main metropolitan universities located in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

• Crimean Federal University
• Far Eastern Federal University
• Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University
• Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University
• North-Caucasus Federal University
• North-Eastern Federal University
• Northern (Arctic) Federal University
• Siberian Federal University
• Southern Federal University
• Ural Federal University

 National Research Universities

On 7 August, 2008 the President of the Russian Federation has signed the order on the establishment of the pilot project on National Research Universities (NRU). The Universities which were awarded the status of “National Research University” were selected on competitive basis by an independent expert group set up by the Ministry for Education and Science. These are the best field-specific universities performing world-class basic and applied research, which provide training to high quality human resources for priority S&T areas, economy and social sector. The state funding allows for modernization of facilities and infrastructure, retraining of specialists and integration into the international research and education area.

National Research Universities implement their own mobility programmes, which fit national priorities, universities’ development programmes, performance indicators set by the Ministry and available funding. Mobility programmes, especially incoming mobility (invitation of foreign professors and researchers to Russia) is an important requirement for National Research Universities. List of NRU includes:

• Bauman Moscow State Technical National Research University
• I.M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas
• National Research Irkutsk State Technical University
• A.N. Tupolev Kazan National Research Technical University
• Kazan National Research Technological University
• Moscow State Aviation Institute - National Research University
• St. Petersburg Mining University
• National Research Nuclear University - Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute “MEPHI”
• National Research University Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (MGSU)
• National Research University "Moscow Power Engineering Institute"
• National Research University of Electronic Technology “MIET”
• National Research University – Higher School of Economics
• National Research University “Belgorod State University”
• National Research University St.Petersburg State Polytechnical University
• National Research Technological University - Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys
• National Research University - Moscow Institute of Phisics and Technology
• N.I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod - National Research University
• Novosibirsk State National Research University
• National Research Perm State University
• National Research Saratov State University named after N.G. Chernyshevsky
• National Research Tomsk State University
• N.P.Ogarev National Research Mordovia State University
• Perm National Research Polytechnic University
• Russian National Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov
• St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics
• St. Petersburg Academic University — Nanotechnology Research and Education Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences (the Academic University)
• S.P. Korolev Samara State Aerospace University - National Research University 
• South Ural State University - National Research University
• Tomsk Polytechnic National Research University

The difference between Federal and National Research Universities is that the first group will focus on the particular region where they are located, while the latter will train highly-qualified specialists for different sectors nationwide. National Research Universities will be characterized by a high percentage of university funds earmarked for research and science, effective systems for the commercialization of scientific research and development activities, and their affiliation with innovation companies. Federal universities aim at optimizing regional educational structures and strengthening links with economics and social sphere of the federal districts. One of the directions of the development of the FUs is the creation of conditions for academic mobility of students, teachers and scientific workers. In this respect, they contribute to the internationalization of higher education in Russia.