Sechenov University confirms leadership and improves positions in RAEX subject rankings

The RAEX ranking agency has released the fifth edition of the subject rankings of Russian universities. It is part of the "Three University Missions" ranking family. This year, as in the previous one, 35 disciplines were assessed, including "Medicine" and "Pharmacy". Sechenov University again scored 100 points and became the leader among Russian universities in both disciplines. Furthermore, Sechenov University improved its scores in the subject areas of "Biotechnology and Bioengineering", "Psychology", and "Materials Technology". In total, the rankings include 167 universities from 45 regions of Russia.

Key results of Sechenov University:

• "Medicine" – 1st place (fifth year in a row).

• "Pharmacy" – 1st place (fourth year in a row).

• "Biotechnology and Bioengineering" – 3rd place (position held for the fourth consecutive year).

• "Psychology" – 6th place (improved position).

• "Materials Technology" – 9th place (improved position).

The subject rankings evaluate three university missions: education, research, and societal contribution. The rankings are built solely on objective indicators, without expert surveys, using data from the Ministry of Education and Science, bibliometric systems, online course platforms, social networks, and the SCAN-Interfax media monitoring system.

When assessing the first – educational – mission of universities, the following are evaluated: the quality of enrolled students, staffing levels, competitiveness of master's programs, volume of funding, student performance in Russian academic Olympiads, and the number of massive open online courses.

The "Research" group indicators include bibliometric indicators (publications and citations) according to Web of Science and OpenAlex databases, research income adjusted for scale, scale of doctoral (postgraduate) training, number of dissertation defenses, as well as the share of extrabudgetary sources in total R&D expenditures.

When assessing the third, societal mission, both subject-specific and institutional indicators related to the university as a whole were taken into account. At the subject level, comparisons were made based on indicators measuring: the university's contribution to regional workforce training, the share of students enrolled in the discipline nationwide, the proportion of contract-targeted students, and the share of first-year students from other regions. Institutional-level criteria also used in the "Society" group include: revenue from continuing professional education programs and the number of learners enrolled, knowledge diversity at the university (number of admission programs), university website audience and number of social media followers, as well as the frequency of university mentions in the media.

Today, Sechenov University is the only Russian university in the top 200 of the QS World University Rankings by subject in "Medicine", and one of two Russian universities in the top 150 in "Pharmacy & Pharmacology". It holds a leading position in the QS World University Rankings 2025 by subject for Dentistry. According to the 2025 Global Aggregate Ranking, it is among the top 750 universities worldwide. It also holds leading positions in the Global Aggregate Ranking among Russian medical universities in "Fundamental Medicine", "Clinical Medicine", "Health Sciences", and "Medical Technologies". In 2024, Sechenov University entered the top 20 Russian universities in the RAEX ranking, taking 15th place. For the first time, it entered the top 5 Russian universities for research reputation, and also took first place in the overall influence ranking among all medical universities in the country. Sechenov University also became the first among medical universities in the BRICS university ranking.

Sechenov University is transforming into a network university of medical technologies. Its strategic priorities are to strengthen Russia's position in biomedical technologies, train personnel for the innovative economy, and improve access to high-tech medical care.