An increased competition in the world market of educational services has brought about new tools to raise the prestige of higher education institutions in the opinion of students and employers. The most important of these tools are the rankings of the best universities in the world, regularly compiled by well-known foreign agencies. The Russian leadership pays focused attention to the ranking positions of our universities, which resulted in the development of the national program "5-100-2020" in 2013, the implementation of which should allow at least five Russian universities to occupy positions in a leading hundred of the QS World University Ranking in 2020. The article discusses the way the rating positions of the leading Russian universities have changed over the past year. The importance of advancements in international rankings is illustrated by the success of foreign universities in terms of advertising and attraction of a large number of international students. Particular attention is given to an increasingly larger role of distance learning in extending the coverage of the global student audience. A comparative geographical analysis of the regions of residence of international students, attracted both to national and foreign universities, has been conducted. The problems of raising the international prestige of Russian high school in the world educational space have been considered, the causes of unreasonably low rating of Russian universities according to leading rating agencies have been identified. The author has proved the importance of enhancing the mobility of students within Russia, taking into account the regional diversity of scientific schools. 

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