Another unique feature of the ranking is the consideration of the “Number of alumni with an individual article about them on Wikipedia”.
In November 2022, the decision has been made to establish a joint Working Group on the development and implementation of the “Three University Missions” Ecosystem between Russian Union of Rectors (RUR) and Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
The ranking methodology was developed in collaboration with more than 100 organizations: universities, councils of rectors, rating agencies and expert associations, notably the IREG Observatory on Academic Rankings and Excellence and the Russian Union of Rectors.
[12] The Expert Council of the ranking comprises experts in the field of higher education from 25 countries, such as the Belgium, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Italy, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, USA, UK, and Russia.
[13] According to the current version of the methodology (2023), the ranking uses 16 indicators divided into three groups: Education, Research, and University & Society.
The total weight of indicators per group is 45% (Education), 25% (Research) and 30% (University & Society).
IREG List awards won by university academic staff and alumni 6.
Total pages of a university's website indexed by the leading search engines 12.
[20] The sixth edition of MosIUR (2022) included a record high of 1,800 universities from 103 countries.
Meanwhile in 2023, for the first time in this ranking history, Asia surpassed Europe in number of participants in the list of world best universities.
[24] In an interview with the Brazilian publication Folha de S. Paulo, the president of the international association IREG Observatory on Academic Rankings and Excellence, Luiz Claudio Costa, noted that “the new Moscow International University Ranking represents the second generation of academic rankings and <...> poses correct and important questions by its search for indicators to evaluate the quality of teaching and the interaction of the university with society”.
[25] The president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA, USA), Judith Eaton, called the release of the ranking timely, in view of the growing recognition that the social role of a university is one of its key functions.
She views the ranking as an attempt to move away from the elitist approach of evaluating universities, instead paying special attention to the social responsibility of higher education.