The Interfax study evaluates 395 Russian universities across six dimensions: education, research, innovation and entrepreneurship, collaboration, social environment, and brand. The criteria used to assess Russian universities are becoming less tied exclusively to the quality of education. Increasingly, greater weight is given to research, innovation, industry collaboration, and a university’s ability to integrate into the technological economy. Among the top ten are several universities from AIRR regions, including Novosibirsk State University, Tomsk State University, and Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University. Today, world-class campuses, advanced engineering schools, innovative scientific and technological centers (ISTCs), university startups, and industrial partnerships are increasingly concentrated around strong universities. The competitive advantage is no longer the number of students, but the ability to address key challenges: training talent aligned with industry needs, conducting applied research, commercializing developments, and working in close connection with the real sector of the economy. Such universities become hubs that attract talent, investment, and new technology companies. In many AIRR regions, this model is already taking shape. In the Republic of Tatarstan, the university ecosystem is developing in close integration with Innopolis University, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, and high-tech enterprises. In Tomsk Region, universities act as the core of the region’s scientific and technological development. In Novosibirsk Region, the synergy between universities, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and high-tech businesses forms one of the most advanced research ecosystems in the country. This logic is increasingly spreading to other AIRR regions through the development of campuses, advanced engineering schools, research and education centers, and technology entrepreneurship programs.