RIAC Electronic Internationalization Index Presented at Russian University of Peoples' Friendship

On December 1, 2015, RIAC Program Director Ivan Timofeyev spoke at a conference of rectors and pro-rectors on development of international scientific and technical cooperation at Russian University of Peoples Friendship organized by the University and Russian Ministry for Science and Education. Dr. Timofeyev presented the results of RIAC's project on internationalization and international operations of universities, stressing the value of the electronic internationalization index produced by researchers of RIAC. Displaying the strong and weak points of Russian universities' Internet resources, the index has been used to launch an educational program for development of the university websites.

On December 1, 2015, RIAC Program Director Ivan Timofeyev spoke at a conference of rectors and pro-rectors on development of international scientific and technical cooperation at Russian University of Peoples Friendship organized by the University and Russian Ministry for Science and Education.

Opened by University Rector Vladimir Filippov and Deputy Science and Education Minister Veneamin Kaganov, the session was attended by Ministry's International Department Nikolay Toivonen, Deputy Director of Rossotrudnichestvo Dmitry Guzhelya and other federal officials.

Dr. Timofeyev presented the results of RIAC's project on internationalization and international operations of universities, stressing the value of the electronic internationalization index produced by researchers of RIAC. Displaying the strong and weak points of Russian universities' Internet resources, the index has been used to launch an educational program for development of the university websites.

"The Internet, social media and the growing international role of the English language are pushing universities and colleges all over the world toward continuous improvement of their English-language resources, while their efficiency evolves into a key factor for export of educational services and international attraction of Russian higher education," said Dr. Timofeyev.

He also briefed the audience on the methodology, stages and products of the projects, as well as offered recommendations for the website bottlenecks to be removed, so that Russian universities could radically better their international ratings.

The report has crowned the three-year-long efforts of RIAC aimed to analyze the content of English-language websites of Russian universities. The ratings covering 45 Russian and 11 foreign universities will be made public soon.