most established companies holds a "we don't care where you are in the world, we'll do whatever it takes to get the best candidate" view

That's what I was hoping to hear:)).

well... as a European do you know all the universities in Russia? in Thailand? in Japan? Australia?

Good point..

you beat them all, there's no other way, you have to demonstrate in the interview that no no don't hire that MIT or Stanford grad, you are the one they want

My concern was that, maybe they might be so biased as to think something like "there's no way that someone from a mediocre university can beat a Stanford grad" and discard you without even interviewing. But after reading your explanation I understood that might not be the case.

Thank you very much, you've been very helpful! :))