Competitive Advantages of the European and Russian Higher Educa-tion Institutions and Their Place in World Educational Space

The article considers the main competitive advantages of higher educational institutions of Western Europe and Russia and their place in the world educational space. In addition the article explores the basic components of the competitiveness of the higher education institutions, taking into consideration the best universities of Western Europe, provides a ranking of the best European universities and the Russian higher education institutions included into the ranking of higher education institutions of the world. The main distinction between European higher education institutions and other universities and institutes, including Russian, are considered.