The World University Rankings 2012 was recently published with both Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University again failing to reach the top hundred. But Russian experts believe that Russian universities are just beginning their way to the top of the list.

Tuesday morning Quacquarelli Symonds released their official lists for best universities of 2012. Two of the oldest Russian universities - Lomonosov Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University have nothing to boast about. This year MSU dropped from 112th to 116th. Just two years ago, MSU was in the top hundred universities, finishing 93rd place. St. Petersburg State University, currently 253rd, also went down in the rankings, losing two spots compared to last year.

Moscow State and St. Petersburg State received the worst results from teachers in the world scientific community.
In addition, the rating indicated a very low international composition of students and teachers in both schools. However, St. Petersburg State and Moscow State were ranked 95th and 99th in terms of academic reputation and the employer reputation.
In total 14 Russian universities made the list, with 2 being included for the first time: the Far Eastern Federal University (692nd) and the Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics (768 th).

Several Russian universities have advanced this year by more than 20 positions: Moscow's Higher School of Economics (542nd), Novosibirsk State University (371st), Bauman Moscow State Technical University (352nd), Tomsk Polytechnic University (567th) and Moscow State University of International Relations (367th). Altai State University, which was on the list last year, fail to rank in 2012.

Despite the fact that no Russian schools were in the top hundred, those ranking the schools and the universities themselves still have hope for the future.
"We have seen steady upward progress by  some Russian universities since their debut on the QS rankings," noted QS Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia Zoya Zaitseva. "I look forward to working closely with the rector, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and other interested parties to ensure that President Putin's order requiring five universities place in the top 100 by 2020. And if this isn't achieved, then, at least, universities will be getting closer."

The top ten places were held by six American and four British universities.

The QS World University Rankings have been compiled every year since 2004 and includes 700 universities. The drafters of the list evaluate schools on six criteria: reputation in the academic world, cited publications of the university, the ratio of teachers to students, the ratio of graduates to employers, as well as the relative number of foreign teachers and students. In preparation for this year's ranking, QS surveyed more than 46,000 academic experts, 25,000 employers and more than 2.5 thousand universities, 729 universities were ranked.