We investigate corruption, uncover fake news and analyze the news agenda. The BIC is a member of the global network of investigative journalists.
Our journalists are the recipients of the national award “Free Word” from the Association of Journalists of Belarus in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. At "Free Word" 2021 BIC’s team also received first place for Analytics
BIC is a member of the OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project)
We are also members of GIJN (Global Investigative Journalism Network)
Western pressure or a global trend? Examining the claim by the dean of BSU’s journalism department about the decline in Belarusian university rankings
In 2025, BSU dropped 60 places in the British university rankings.
The West is trying to cut Belarus off “from the technological sphere” as part of its pressure on “dissenting countries,” said Aleksei Belyaev, dean of the Journalism Department at BSU. According to him, this is being done by pushing Belarusian education out of the global system, including through the artificial downgrading of the country’s universities in international rankings. The Weekly Top Fake team found that Belarusian universities have been losing ground not only in Western rankings.
Among other things, the issue of higher education was discussed on September 4, 2025, during the talk show “Budni” on Alpha Radio and SB TV. Aleksei Belyaev, dean of the Journalism Department at BSU, accused the West of deliberately undermining the prestige of Belarusian universities:
“Even an attempt to push our education out of the global system: a ban on publishing in Western journals, the artificial lowering of our universities’ rankings, allegedly so that students would not choose to study there.”
Three Belarusian universities did in fact lose ground in 2025 in one of the most influential global university rankings — the British QS ranking. BSU fell 60 places, BNTU dropped 54 places to 862nd, and BSUIR slipped 203 places to 1,415th. In the British Times Higher Education ranking, BSU is the only Belarusian university represented. Its position there has also worsened: in 2024, it was placed in the 1,200–1,500 group, while this year it dropped into the 1,501+ category.
However, the rankings of Belarusian universities have been slipping not only in Western lists. In the Shanghai ranking, BSU made it into the top 1,000 only in physics. And even here its standing worsened: in 2023, BSU was in the fourth hundred, but in 2024 it shifted into the fifth. In the Round University Ranking, compiled in Georgia, BSU’s position dropped from 782 in 2024 to 828 in 2025.
BSU, however, improved its standing in the Moscow International Ranking “Three University Missions”: in 2024, compared to 2023, the university climbed by about 100 places. The Vitebsk State Medical University also improved its standing in the Russian ranking. BSMU, BSUIR, BNTU, as well as Francisk Skorina Gomel State University, all fell in the list.
