Russians ‘Most Well Educated’ in the World

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 18, 2013) Russian are the most well educated people in the world, a report by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development said.

Russia topped the rankings followed by Canada and Japan. Israel and the United States rounded up the top five. The ranking factored in the percentage of adults in a country who hold a college degree and the amount of funding directed toward the national education system.

Russian authorities put a lot of investments into education, the OECD said. However, the country also has many public shortcomings in this sphere.

“Reports suggest widespread corruption in the education system, including cheating on standardized tests, the sale of doctorates to politicians and the wealthy, and fake thesis factories,” the report’s authors noted.

The lack of Russian representation on renowned world rankings for universities can also create the impression that Russians are not actually well educated. Only the Lomonosov State University made it into the world’s top 400 universities list, which the Times World University Rankings published earlier this month. The school fell out of the top 201-225 group this year while other Russian universities didn’t make the cut at all.