Universities in Russia & the CIS: Profiles, Rankings & How to Apply

Moscow · Est. 1755

Russia's oldest and most prestigious university, founded by Mikhail Lomonosov. Most programs in Russian; an increasing number of English-taught master's programs. Open Doors scholarship covers tuition for top international applicants.

Almaty · Est. 1934

A comprehensive public research university in Almaty and one of the oldest and largest in Kazakhstan, offering programs across the natural sciences, IT and mathematics, humanities, economics, law and international relations. Instruction is in Kazakh, Russian and English, with a number of English-medium programs for international students.

Moscow · Est. 1992

Russia's leading social sciences and economics university with campuses in Moscow, St Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Perm. The largest selection of English-taught programs among Russian universities, including the popular HSE/UoL double degree in Data Science.

Dolgoprudny (near Moscow) · Est. 1946

Russia's leading institute for physics, mathematics, and theoretical computer science. The "Phystech" tradition combines deep theoretical training with research-lab integration. Several English-taught master's in CS, AI, and finance.

Saint Petersburg · Est. 1900

A top IT and engineering university known for repeatedly winning the ICPC World Programming Championship. Many English-taught master's programs in CS, AI, and photonics.

Moscow · Est. 2011

A graduate-level institute in Moscow focused on science, technology and research, offering English-taught master's and PhD programs in fields such as AI, life sciences, advanced materials, energy and photonics. Education is integrated with research and applied-technology projects.

Astana · Est. 2010

An autonomous, English-medium research university in Astana, opened in 2010, offering undergraduate, master's and doctoral programs across engineering and digital sciences, medicine, sciences and humanities, business and public policy. It follows an international academic model developed with partner universities abroad.

Tashkent · Est. 1918

The National University of Uzbekistan named after Mirzo Ulugbek is a state university. Its English history page states that it was founded in 1918, and that the page’s own figure for specialists trained since then is about 200,000. Its props page gives the name in that form, writes the city as Toshkent, and gives the postal address as 100174, Tashkent city, Almazar district, University street, house 4. The history page writes the district as Almazor. This profile does not copy a ranking, a bank detail, or a tuition fee from those pages.

Bishkek · Est. 1925

Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn publishes its general-information page in Kyrgyz. That page gives the full name as Жусуп Баласагын атындагы Кыргыз улуттук университети and an opening date of October 1925. It states that in October 1925 the Kyrgyz Institute of Education opened in Pishpek, that in 1927 it became the Central Pedagogical Technical School, that on 13 January 1932 a decision was taken to open the Kyrgyz State Pedagogical Institute in Pishpek, and that on 24 May 1951 the Council of Ministers created the Kyrgyz State University on that base, with a ceremonial opening on 31 August 1951. A short history on the same page states that in May 2002 the university received the name above. The page does not state a tuition fee. Fact files for 2025 and 2026 are linked there and were not read for this profile.

Moscow · Est. 1758

A public medical university in Moscow under the Russian Ministry of Health, tracing its origins to a medical faculty established in 1758. It offers programs across medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and the life sciences, with English-medium degree tracks alongside Russian-taught programs and a preparatory department for international applicants.

Yerevan · Est. 1920

A public medical university in Yerevan, Armenia, with origins dating to 1920 and university status since 1995. It focuses on the health sciences, offering programs in general medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and public health, including English-medium tracks for international students.