Effectiveness of the Assessment of Higher Education Institutions: The Case of a University in a Single-industry Town

The article examines the effectiveness of the current unified approach of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation to evaluating the performance of federal higher education institutions (HEIs). The criteria used by the Ministry for monitoring their activities and published in 2024 with data for 2023 are analyzed. The study raises the question of whether these criteria are suitable for assessing the performance of universities in Russian single-industry towns (monotowns). Using the case of one of the key universities in monotowns – Polar State University in Norilsk, the largest university in the Russian Eastern Arctic – the author demonstrates that the performance indicators established by the Ministry (educational, international, financial and economic activities) do not fully reflect the realities of universities operating in monotowns. The researcher proposes changes to the groups of indicators, not limited to universities in monotowns, which will contribute to the improvement of the government’s criteria for evaluating HEIs’ performance.