At a joint discussion held in partnership with Russian Academic Excellence Project 5-100 the Vladimir Potanin Foundation introduced its ranking of Russian universities participating in the Vladimir Potanin Fellowship Program. The event took place at the Russian Information Agency TASS in Moscow 7 September 2015.

The annual research has been carried out since 2004 and has become a recognized instrument of an alternative evaluation of the educational environment in Moscow and regional high education institutions. The research is based on the results of students' and professors' participation in the Foundation's educational programs. The ranking comprises 75 universities. The Higher School of Economics is on spot number 1 (in 2014 the university only went to 21). The second place is held by the Siberian Federal University, followed by the National Research Tomsk State University. The European University at Saint Petersburg is rated number 8, while Lomonosov Moscow State University rests at position 19-20.

General director of the Foundation Oksana Oracheva: "When we released our first ranking in 2004, it had a very practical implication and helped us rotate university participants of our Fellowship Program. Today the Foundation's ranking is a helpful instrument, which gives a clear picture and a rigid analysis of the university environment. The ranking employs performance indicators which present the university management with a different view of education processes".

Нigher School of Economics pro-rector Sergey Roschin: "We are pleased to find ourselves on top of the ranking table. The Foundation's table is not a managing parameter for our university yet, and in fact, it shows the activity of our students and teaching staff involved in the development of master-degree programs. The university can only be credited for having such active students and professors."

According to the team of the Project 5-100, Russia has lately seen a boom of rankings and competition is regarded as a booster for universities and colleges development nowadays. However Veljko Vujacic, pro-rector of the European University at Saint Petersburg, made a point that in the USA the reputation of a university has more importance than its place in a ranking, and unlike many Russian universities, in the USA each university tries to find its specific sphere, like music, nanotechnologies or physics, and make it a selling point rather than develop in all spheres equally.

Rector of the Ural Federal University Viktor Koksharov: “The main value of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation ranking is that it motivates students and professors to increase the level of education and aim for higher standards.” He specifically mentioned the support of endowments provided by the Foundation, which helped the University students’ to establish their own endowment, which is successfully developing and has already over 2000 donors. The rating also encouraged the restructuring of management processes at the University, having become an important element of its strategy.