Penza State University entered the world university ranking that is conducted annually by British company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and is considered one of the most influential university ratings in the world. Russian media news agency ‘Russia Today’ and it service ‘Social Navigator’ provided a Russian version of the ranking. Penza State University has entered this prestigious list for the first time.

Regional league table ‘Emerging Europe and Central Asia’ assesses universities from 20 countries of Europe and Central Asia. There are 64 Russian universities in the list, with well-known high-profile universities such as Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University, Novosibirsk State University. In the top ten European universities are higher education institutions from Prague, Tartu, Warsaw, Krakow, Istanbul, Brno.

In 2016 the rating committee assessed universities from CIS countries, Baltic States, Caucasia region, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Albania, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Czech Republic. If in last year’s ranking out of 450 evaluated universities 150 entered the final list, then this year there were more than 600 of universities under assessment.

Among the reasons that allowed our university to enter this prestigious ranking, university analysts mention the beneficial effects of the merge of two oldest universities of the region - Penza State University and Penza Teachers’ Training University.

QS rating committee noted that Penza State University showed quite good results according to all criteria of the assessment.

The total grade of the university under assessment is calculated using its academic reputation (30% of the total), employer reputation (20%), faculty-student ratio (15%). Other criteria taken into consideration are the ratio of international teaching staff and international students, publication activities, citations of research papers, percentage of teaching staff with research degrees, efficiency of internet resources.

As noted by the analysts of Penza State University, the criteria for entering this league table of 200 leading universities with rich traditions in higher education, is great honour for the university. The fact of Penza State University entering QS ranking proves that the university continually strengthens its positions not only at the national but at the international market of education services.