Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting
Positions of Russian universities, including St Petersburg University, in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025. Since 2022, St Petersburg University has ceased participation in this ranking
Since 2022, St Petersburg University has ceased participation in rankings compiled by countries considered unfriendly. On 13 March 2025, the British ranking agency Quacquarelli Symonds published the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025. According to Ivan Grigorev, Advisor to the Rector, the rankings comprise five broad subject areas (broad faculty areas) and 55 specific subject areas (disciplines or narrow subject fields). The rankings are calculated based on five indicators. Each indicator requires a minimum of three joint publications spanning a five-year period:
- academic reputation
- employer reputation
- research citations per paper
- university’s h-index (within specific fields)
- International Research Network (number of research partnerships)
Reputation indicators are assessed through annual expert surveys. Bibliometric data are sourced from Scopus database. The weight assigned to each indicator varies according to the subject area.
Since 2022, St Petersburg University has had no interaction with the ranking agency Quacquarelli Symonds and has provided no data to it. However, according to the QS methodology for compiling subject rankings, the bibliometric data required for calculating these indicators can be gathered from open sources.
The 2025 QS subject rankings include the top 500 universities worldwide, with Russian universities represented in all five broad subject areas. St Petersburg University holds positions 3–5 in these broad subject area rankings. Additionally, 47 Russian universities appear in 45 of the 55 narrow subject area rankings published. St Petersburg University is listed in 23 subject rankings.
Compared to the results of the 2024 rankings, Russian universities have generally experienced a decline in their positions across the subject rankings. Improvements were observed only in 15 cases (out of a total of 313), including St Petersburg University, which advanced from 100th to 95th position in Linguistics.
Ivan Grigorev emphasised that, despite the overall downward trend for Russian universities in the QS subject rankings, some institutions have demonstrated positive momentum. Additionally, the multidisciplinary nature of several leading universities (such as the Higher School of Economics, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, and RUDN University) is gaining prominence.
Directors of institutes and deans of faculties have been instructed to analyse the subject rankings and benchmark their departments’ performance against that of peers in relevant academic fields.
International activities
The following events were recently held at St Petersburg University.
Event at the St Petersburg University Representative Office in Spain
On 11 March, St Petersburg University and its Representative Office in the Kingdom of Spain held an online lecture on the peculiarities of migration by representatives of the sixth flow. The lecture was delivered by Mikhail Bril, Head of the Department of Critical and Major Incident Psychology at St Petersburg University.
Events at the St Petersburg University Representative Office in Moldova
On 12 March, St Petersburg University and its Representative Office in the Republic of Moldova held the online lecture ‘Living Russian speech: updating the lexical composition of the Russian language’ focused on the study of changes in the vocabulary of modern Russian. The lecture was delivered by Kira Shchukina, Associate Professor in the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language at St Petersburg University.
Meeting with representatives of the Latin American School of Medicine
On 13 March, an online meeting took place between representatives of St Petersburg University and Yoandra Muro Valle, Rector of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) (Republic of Cuba). ELAM is a unique institution of higher education in Cuba. During the negotiations, the Cuban side expressed its interest in developing bilateral relations for the exchange of students and academic staff, as well as in the implementation of joint academic and research projects.
Meeting with representatives of Alfaisal University
On 13 March, representatives of St Petersburg University met with Princess Maha bint Mishari bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Vice-President of External Relations and Advancement at Alfaisal University (Saudi Arabia). It was agreed to sign a cooperation agreement.
Cooperation agreements with universities in West Africa
Representatives of the St Petersburg University Language Testing Centre also held a series of face-to-face meetings and events in the Republic of the Niger and Burkina Faso. Following these events, agreements were signed with two universities and prospects for further cooperation with other universities of the Alliance of Sahel States were outlined.
The main objectives of the trip were to establish new and strengthen existing links between Russian and African educational institutions, to discuss topical issues in education, science and culture, and to seek joint solutions to improve educational systems and stimulate entrepreneurial activity in the region.
According to Andrei Lesin, Director of the St Petersburg University Language Testing Centre, the visit was a logical and necessary continuation of the active development of educational cooperation between Russia and African countries, which St Petersburg University has been actively supporting since 2021 (St Petersburg University signs cooperation agreements with universities in West Africa).
Organisation of the teaching and learning process
Over the past week, 54 enquiries were addressed to the Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities. The majority of enquiries relate to preparation of various documents. The teaching and learning process is held in due order according to the timetable.
Over the past week, meetings were held with student activists: group heads, and representatives of student councils and student scientific societies to name just a few. They discussed issues with organising the teaching and learning process. The meetings were held at: the Institute of Philosophy; the Mathematics and Mechanics Faculty; the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes; the Faculty of Physics; and the Faculty of Philology.
Rector Nikolay Kropachev also met with members of the Student Council of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes (The Rector meets with the Student Council of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Process).
Meeting of University staff and students with Tamara Netyksa, retired Colonel of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation
A meeting of international relations students with retired Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Colonel Tamara Netyksa took place at St Petersburg University. The event was held as part of a cycle of memorial events for illegal and military intelligence officers, which has been held by the St Petersburg Committee for External Relations since 2021.
According to Irina Novikova, Dean of the School of International Relations at St Petersburg University, Colonel Tamara Netyksa is an amazing person: since 1978, together with her husband (Hero of Russia Vitalii Netyksa), she spent 20 years on foreign missions; she took part in operational tasks of the centre, worked with agents, obtained, processed and transmitted valuable intelligence information; for her outstanding work as an illegal intelligence officer, Tamara Netyksa was awarded orders and medals.
The meeting participants were shown the documentary film ‘100 years of illegal intelligence’, which tells the story of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation and its outstanding representatives. Tamara Netyksa spoke about some of the features of the work of an illegal intelligence officer, remembered her friends and colleagues who had already passed away. During the meeting, the audience learned about the great Soviet and Russian intelligence officers: Nikolai Kuznetsov, the spouses Leontine and Morris Cohen, Arnold Deutsch, África de las Heras Gavilán, and Alexey Kozlov. ‘Some of them were foreigners by origin, but they served in the USSR, because they saw in our country the only force in the world that could resist fascism, and the uncontrolled ambitions of individual states,’ said Tamara Netyksa.
The main topics of the conversation were how to develop moral spirit, honesty and devotion to the Fatherland, i.e. qualities necessary for professionals in their field, working for the benefit of society and the country. Tamara Netyksa focused on the similarity in the professions of an intelligence officer and a diplomat. ‘You will also have to defend the interests of your country abroad,’ she said to the future diplomats. The honoured intelligence officer paid special attention to the need to preserve historical memory, which is especially important in the context of modern geopolitical challenges. ‘We want you to know our history. It is worth it. It is heroic and extraordinary,’ said Tamara Netyksa.
The students asked numerous questions about life of illegal intelligence agents, relationships with children, and work with classified information. They were also interested in the skills and techniques that help to better understand the culture and mentality of representatives of other countries.
Irina Novikova, Dean of the School of International Relations at St Petersburg University, and Tamara Netyksa, retired Colonel of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, expressed hope for a new meeting at the University at the next forum ‘Russia and Ibero-America’.
Awarding employees of St Petersburg University
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed Executive Order No 76-rp dated 10 March 2025 on rewarding a number of citizens and teams of the country. Among them are employees of St Petersburg University.
Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University, was awarded the Certificate of Honour of the President of the Russian Federation for his contribution to the activities of the Presidential Council for Coordination with Religious Organisations. Dmitrii Shmonin, Director of the Institute of Theology at St Petersburg University, was also thanked for his contribution to the work of the Council.
Since 2021, the Rector of St Petersburg University has been a member of the Presidential Council for Coordination with Religious Organisations, and is also a member of the Bureau of the Presidium of the World Russian People’s Council.
As part of the implementation of decisions of the Presidential Council for Coordination with Religious Organisations, its working bodies and instructions of Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Member of the Board of Trustees of St Petersburg University, St Petersburg University coordinates inter-university expert and analytical work aimed at developing proposals to bring the legislation of the Russian Federation in line with the value and ideological provisions of Executive Order No 809 ‘On approving the fundamentals of state policy for the preservation and strengthening of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values’ dated 9 November 2022 and St Petersburg University is the parent organisation of a consortium of educational, scientific and other organisations.
At one of the last meetings of the Public Council under the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, at the suggestion of the administration of St Petersburg University, an appeal was made to the leadership of the Ministry on the need to promptly initiate changes to the legislation of the Russian Federation and bring federal laws and other regulatory legal acts into line with the value-based ideological provisions of Executive Order No 809. Specific proposals for making changes (additions) have already been prepared by specialists of the University and other organisations that are participants in the consortium.
Following the instructions of the Government of the Russian Federation, an independent area of work of Nikolay Kropachev and experts at St Petersburg University is the formation of a normative explanatory dictionary of the state language, which will, among other things, present descriptions of key Russian traditional spiritual and moral values. The consolidation of the relevant concepts should help ensure the unity of legislative activity and law enforcement practice in future.
At the initiative of the Rector of the University, a set of events aimed at implementing Executive Order No 809 ‘On approving the fundamentals of state policy for the preservation and strengthening of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values’ dated 9 November 2022 has been organised and is currently being implemented at St Petersburg University.
Seminars, round tables, and conferences devoted to issues of historical memory, education of a harmoniously developed, patriotic and socially responsible personality, and interethnic and interfaith relations are regularly held. A round table titled ‘Traditional religions of Russia in the spiritual paradigm of national security’ brought together representatives of various religious associations that shared their experience in protecting spiritual and moral values. The results of the work of the consortium of educational, scientific and other organisations, supervised by St Petersburg University, were considered by experts at the All-Russia scientific and practical conference ‘Traditional values in Russian law’. Approaches to updating legislation were discussed during the round table ‘Traditional spiritual and moral values: legal dimension’.
The Rector of St Petersburg University raised the issue of protecting the interests of the Russian Federation in the international space at the plenary session of the 26th World Russian People’s Council. He noted that new platforms must be developed to discuss issues of law, economics, geopolitical challenges, bioethics, medicine and culture from the point of view of spiritual and moral values in a value-worldview perspective, from the position of traditional spiritual and moral values, and proposed establishing an international forum in St Petersburg under the auspices of the World Russian People’s Council. Nikolay Kropachev also spoke about the use of the Russian language as the state language and emphasised that the legal community today faces the task of protecting the native language from the penetration of meanings and significances that destroy our culture, the system of our spiritual and moral values.
Nikolay Kropachev is a holder of the Order of the Saint Blessed Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky, 3rd class, which is one of the highest awards of the Russian Orthodox Church, awarded for the restoration of the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The Rector was also awarded the Medal of the Holy Supreme Apostle Peter, 1st class (The Rector of St Petersburg University awarded the Certificate of Honour of the President of the Russian Federation).
Cultural events during March
Elena Lebedkina, Head of the Main Department for Exhibitions, Museums, Library and Publishing Activities at St Petersburg University, presented a digest of the University’s cultural events during March.
Inter-museum and university festival ‘To the museum today, to science tomorrow!’
Since 21 March, the museums at St Petersburg University have been hosting guests of the 8th inter-museum and university festival ‘To the museum today, to science tomorrow!’
Opening of the exhibition ‘Nabokov as a translator and commentator of Lermontov’
At 6pm on 21 March, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University will host the opening of a joint exhibition titled ‘Nabokov as a translator and commentator of Lermontov’ with the Mikhail Lermontov House Museum of the Vladimir Dal State Museum of the History of Russian Literature.
Lecture ‘Russian Paris: Vladimir and Nikolai Nabokovs, Sergei Diaghilev and Arnold Haskell’
At 5pm on 22 March, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University will host a lecture titled ‘Russian Paris: Vladimir and Nikolai Nabokovs, Sergei Diaghilev and Arnold Haskell’.
Opening of the exhibition ‘Furious genius: Michelangelo Buonarroti. 550th anniversary’
On 23 March, an exhibition titled ‘Furious genius: Michelangelo Buonarroti. 550th anniversary’ will open at the M Gorky Scientific Library at St Petersburg University.
Online exhibition ‘Alexei Ukhtomsky as an outstanding physiologist, creator of the doctrine of the dominant’
On 24 March, an online exhibition titled ‘Alexei Ukhtomsky as an outstanding physiologist, creator of the doctrine of the dominant’ from the series ‘Famous University staff, students and alumni’ will open (Exhibition ‘Alexei Ukhtomsky as an outstanding physiologist, academician, creator of the doctrine of the dominant’. On the 150th anniversary (1875-1942)).
Workshop for children on creating a postcard ‘Nabokov’s butterflies’
At 2pm on 25 March, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University, with the participation of the Timiryazev Library, will host a workshop for children (12+) on creating a postcard ‘Nabokov’s butterflies’.
Lecture ‘Riches and secrets of the sea depths’
At 5pm on 26 March, the Petrography Museum at St Petersburg University will hold a popular science lecture titled ‘Riches and secrets of the marine subsoil’ by Mikhail Sergeev, Honoured Geologist of the Russian Federation, Head of the Geological Department of Polar Marine Geological Exploration Expedition.
Online exhibition ‘Nikolai Shinkarev as a scientist and teacher. On the 95th anniversary’
On 28 March, an online exhibition titled ‘Nikolai Shinkarev as a scientist and teacher. On the 95th anniversary’ will open. It is dedicated to Nikolai Shinkarev (1969-1999), Head of the Department of Petrography at Leningrad State University / St Petersburg University.
Lecture ‘‘Dress like a flower...‘: fashion of the time and style of Nabokov’s mansion’
At 5.30pm on 28 March, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University will hold an open lecture titled ‘’Dress like a flower...": fashion of the time and style of Nabokov’s mansion’ by art historian Iaroslava Bubnova.
Round table ‘Art as a divine game’
At 12 noon on 29 March, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University will hold a round table titled ‘Art as a divine game’. The discussion will focus on the versatility of Vladimir Nabokov’s personality and creativity, his bilingualism, the specifics of his prose and poetry, and Nabokov as a translator.
Lecture ‘The influence of Vladimir Nabokov’s works on Russian postmodernist literature’
At 5pm on 29 March, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University will hold a lecture titled ‘The influence of Vladimir Nabokov’s works on Russian postmodernist literature’ by Vladimir Kovalenko, Assistant Professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA).