The study examines the mechanisms for assessing the competitiveness of universities in accordance with various methodological approaches used in the system of international rankings; determines the degree of convergence of the rankings in question both in integral and in private performance assessments, and identifies the most significant indicators on this basis, followed by focusing some tools, mechanisms and directions to improve the competitiveness of Russian universities on them. Particular attention is paid to the identification of regional features of the territories that form the potential and direction of development of federal universities, adapted to the existing competitive advantages.The method of works conduct is based on the use of tools for econometric analysis of the evaluation of the convergence of international academic rankings (ARWU (The Academic Ranking of World Universities), THE (Times Higher Education), QS (Quacquarelli Symonds)) by determining the values of Spearman ratios, as well as tools of statistical analysis and other special methods that help define and search for key areas for the development of federal universities that ensure the growth of their global competitiveness.The novelty of study consists in the developed conceptual approach of determining the key directions of the development of universities of the Russian Federation taking into account the assessment of their global competitiveness, as well as relying on territorial aspects and peculiarities of their functioning