INRTU took the 1401-1500 position in the global ranking, climbing 100 places compared to 2025.

According to a release from the RAEX rating agency, it is reported that Harvard University has reclaimed the first place after ceding the top spot to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2024 and 2025. MIT dropped to second, with Oxford and Cambridge taking third and fourth places.

In 2026, the list of the world’s top 2000 universities includes five fewer Russian universities than a year ago —151 instead of 156.

Three Russian Universities made it up to the top 100. Lomonosov Moscow State University held onto 17th place, St. Petersburg State University took 48th, and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology took 63rd.

Among Russian Universities, INRTU took ranked 61st, significantly improving its position. In 2025, INRTU was 85th.

It should be noted that the Moscow International University Ranking is a fundamentally new academic ranking, which is the first to assess all three key missions of a university: education, science and engagement with society. The ranking’s methodology underwent an extensive public discussion involving more than 100 universities. Only objective criteria based on official data (including universities’ public reports) and data from credible international information providers are used to compile the ranking. Reputation surveys are completely excluded.

The ranking was initiated by the Russian Rectors’ Union in accordance with an instruction of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The ranking operator is the Association of Rating Compilers, Rankings and Other Performance Assessments (ASR), whose members are leading rating and research centers.

The pilot version of the Moscow International University Ranking "Three University Missions" was published in December 2017. The ranking successfully passed an independent audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit, a member of the global PwC network.