The Application of Self-Organizing Kohonen Maps for Evaluation of the Competitive Position of the Leading Russian Universities among the World's Academic Centers

Abstract

This article is an attempt to examines the method of global universities clustering based on the quality of scientific research using the self-organizing Kohonen maps in light of the May 7th, 2012 Presidential Decree N 599 which requires that 5 Russian universities be among the world's leading 100 by 2020. The main aim of the research is to evaluate the competitiveness of the leading Russian universities on the basis of objective quantitative data reflecting the research activities of the universities. According to the results of clustering the authors defined criteria and estimated the probability of hitting the clusters where top world research universities belong by Russian universities.