The article presents the results of an empirical study on the assessment of digital communications management with target groups of Russian universities in social media. A sample of universities is based on the «QS World University Ranking by Subjects 2021: Social Sciences and Management 2021». Among the cases of applied research: National Research University «Higher School of Economics», Russian University of Economics, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, MGIMO University, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. The results of a comparative analysis has been carried out using the method of graph with the use of a special software based on determining the structural links of the most significant digital communities of selected universities, as well as social media analysis aimed at determining the key parameters of user activity. The method proposed by the authors makes it possible to assess the scale and nature of communication between universities and selected target groups. Based on the data obtained, we have developed recommendations for improving the digital management of universities, increasing the density of connections and the integration of users within the online communities of universities as one of the conditions for effective management of a university brand in the modern network space.

The article addresses the issues regarding the formation of tools and methods to evaluate the achievements of Russian students in the olympiads, championships and competitions. These tools may improve the efficiency of higher education management system in the Russian Federation. The research methodology is connected with the empirical analysis of student survey data (N=2300) in several dimensions: in the context of periods of study and areas of training. The findings are supplemented with an analysis of the results of comparable studies and works of Russian authors. The article addresses the practical problems related to the need to compensate for the limitations on international academic mobility for Russian students, which are covered by the sanctions and other restrictions. The thesis of leveling the negative effects due to the quantitative and qualitative growth of the competition and olympiad movement in the Russian Federation is formulated. The authors have identified the main problems such as the low level of involvement of Russian students in extracurricular activities in comparison with their foreign colleagues; ineffective informational and organizational support of competitions and olympiads, directive, inflexible formation of the agenda and the lack of transparency in decision-making. The article formulates the proposals to improve the quality of extracurricular work at universities, to reform the system of competitions, grants and Olympiads for Russian students.

The article focuses on the strategies and mechanisms for the development of higher education practiced in modern Russia. They are analyzed in terms of their effectiveness and adequacy to the needs of the country’s development. The authors emphasize the inertial predominance of the ideological impulses of radical liberalism of the 1990s in these strategies, including managerialism. The article raises the question about the need to adjust the general course, goals and mechanisms for the development of domestic higher education, taking into account the pressing challenges to the country and education, the features of the current stage of Russia’s development. The authors propose the concrete measures in this direction. At the same time, special attention is paid to the differentiation of strategies for the development of educational institutions, increasing the role of democratic mechanisms in the life of the university and in the management of the university.

The study discusses the issue arising at the intersection of the virtue epistemology, the philosophy of education, and the contemporary philosophy of technology. Education turns out to be a field of application of the virtue epistemology, and attention to digital technologies gives it an expanded character. From an epistemological point of view, it is obvious that intellectual virtues have advantages in the field of education, concretizing its goals, justifying the acquisition of knowledge, endowing educational practices with value meaning. However, from a pedagogical point of view, there are doubts on the possibility of including intellectual virtues in specific educational strategies. The hypothesis is that it is precisely because of the interaction of digital technologies and intellectual virtues that the latter can become a distinct concern in education. In the first section, we analyze the intellectual virtues in relation to education and explicate the issue. In the second, we clarify the approach of the virtue epistemology to the education by including digital technologies in these practices. We demonstrate that the action of digital technologies provokes the “breaking” of intellectual virtues, which makes it necessary and concrete to move towards them. We relate the understanding of such provocative action with not only instrumental, but also social character of technologies. As a result, we expand the virtue epistemology, which does not consider this aspect, by referring to the critical theory of technology and offer the basis for improving specific educational strategies.

The article presents the analysis of the social and labor situation with teachers of Russian universities. The reform and optimization of the sphere of higher education affects the nature and conditions of employment of teachers of Russian universities. There is a lowering in the status and prestige of teaching work. In addition, negative processes are penetrating into the field of education, which make it possible to talk not just about the deterioration of working conditions, but the gradual transformation of highly qualified specialists of higher education into candidates for the precariat. The research is based both on theoretical approaches to the precariat and precarious employment and the results of statistical, analytical reports and data from the All-Russian study “Precariat: A new phenomenon in the socio-economic structure of society”. Based on these materials, the most important indicators of precarization of the work of higher education workers have been identified. Objective indicators of precarization of Russian higher school teachers include the uncertainty of the remuneration system, instability and non-guaranteed of employment, overemployment and underemployment, and subjective indicators include a sense of vulnerability, defenselessness, fear of job loss and, as a consequence, unsatisfactory social well-being, leading to a low assessment of one’s social position in society.

Modern social processes (globalization, urbanization, digitalization, succession of generations and others) actualize public and scientific attention to students’ reading culture, reading practices and their various aspects (gender, social, economic, and others). The issue of culture of reading, reading practices, their features and structure is a topical and relatively under-developed topic of interdisciplinary analysis. These phenomena are considered in sociology within the framework of some concepts: as a separate type of practice in the process of personal literacy formation, through the connection of cultural heritage and social class, through the analysis of subjective and existential meanings of the reading experience, and others. It is interesting to study the reading practices of students due to the specificity of the subject-object role of this social group in the process of cultural intergenerational continuity. The article highlights the results of an empirical study conducted among students of Moscow universities. Two types of students’ attitudes to works of fiction are revealed: pragmatic and value-reflective. The characteristics of these two groups are given, compared with other indicators (love of reading, reading as pleasure, volume of reading, genres of fiction, and others). The main conclusions and results presented in the publication will be of interest to teachers, scientists, representatives of state and public organizations and specifically to students.

The exclusion of Russia from the Bologna process led to large-scale discussions in society about the future of the Russian magistracy. The implementation of master’s education raised questions throughout 29 years of its existence. Society has developed a perception of magistracy as a problem area of higher education. Thus, when the question arose about the advisability of developing a master’s programs after Russia’s exit from the European Higher Education Area, the majority formed their opinion: no magistracy – no problems. However, objective data allow us to see the situation in the different perspective.

The paper presents the result of a study of the qualitative and quantitative composition of students of the domestic master’s programs from 2012 to 2020. Based on the analysis, the main trends in changing the profile of Russian master’s students have been identified. The tasks relevant to the development of the institute of the Russian magistracy are outlined with a focus on a portrait of today’s master’s student.

The analysis shows that the magistracy has firmly occupied the niche formed in recent years for the training and retraining of specialists. It has become an independent institution of higher education with its own goals, objectives, resources and, most importantly, with its own contingent. The magistracy has a small inertia in response to the emerging challenges of society. Because of that the magistracy increases its demand every year. At the same time, its self-sufficiency rises.

The magistracy has been long and hard embedded into the Russian traditions of education. Finally, it has found its place. The factors considered in the study allow us to speak about the high potential for the Russian magistracy development.

The data and conclusions presented in the study can serve as the basis for a scientific discussion about the future of domestic education.

The number of foreign students educating in Russian universities is increasing every year. With the growing number of such students, the issue of their adaptation becomes more re levant, because that adaptation also determines the success of education. The substantial role in this process falls to the share of universities and their educational system, which in the initial stages is aimed at accelerating the adaptation of foreign students to everyday life in Russia, also to provide high-quality and promising education.

The article presents the results of a study conducted in order to investigate the features of sociocultural adaptation, the difficulties, which are faced by students during their education period and their expectations, coverage of the place and role of universities, therefore, and scientific and pedagogical staff. To achieve an accurate result, we conducted a survey of international students from the Republic of Azerbaijan and the People’s Republic of China studying at Russian universities. 107 students in total (45% Azerbaijani students and 55% Chinese students) from leading Moscow universities participated in the questionnaire-based survey, the age cohort of respondents ranged from 21 to 35 years. Analysis of the results of the survey made it possible to determine the main types of adaptation of students to identify objective and subjective factors of sociocultural adaptation, to compare the principal features of foreign students from Azerbaijan and China in order to understand the main problems of intercultural communication of students from different ethnic groups. The relevance and uniqueness of the study are based on cross-cultural differences between the studied groups, which made it possible to identify both principal and specific features, and their significant difference from Russian culture.The authors of the article concluded that the acceleration of the process of sociocultural adaptation is possible, first of all, through the study of the Russian language and pre-departure training in their homeland, which includes studying of Russian culture, history, traditions and specifics of intercultural communication. Based on the results of the study, the authors proposed recommendations for the formation of a system of measures aimed to optimize the processes of sociocultural adaptation, including well-organized training and teaching, as well as involvement of foreign students in the social activities of the university.

The relevance of the study is due to the need to resolve the contradictions between the requirements of higher education for the personality of a young person and his real capabilities, manifested in the ability or inability to be the subject of his activity and his development. The need to resolve this contradiction has determined the purpose of this study – to identify the level of expression and structure of the subjective properties of students’ personality, their relationship with self-efficacy and psychological well-being. The work used a set of theoretical and empirical research methods, in particular, questionnaires to identify the level of an individual subjectivity development (M.A. Shchukina), general and social self-efficacy (M. Sherer and J. Maddux, adaptation by A.V. Boyarintseva), psychological well-being (K. Riff, adaptation by T.D. Shevelenkova and P.P. Fesenko). Mathematical processing was carried out using the criterion ϕ* – Fisher’s angular transformation, as well as methods of correlation analysis using the linear Pearson correlation coefficient. The subjects were students of a number of universities of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan. A total of 277 students majoring pedagogy and psychology took part in the study, among them 266 (96%) women, 11 (4%) men, average age 19.5 years (SD=1.5). As a result, no fundamental differences were revealed in the structure and manifestations of subjectivity depending on the place of residence, national and cultural traditions, which indicates the existence of some general patterns in the formation of the subjectivity of a future teacher or psychologist. A high level of subjectivity was identified in 57.04% respondents, medium – in 38.98%, low – in 3.98%. It has been established that the level of subjectivity positively correlates with self-efficacy in objective activity, with social self-efficacy and with the psychological well-being of an individual. It was revealed that students with low subjectivity can also have a high level of psychological well-being, while performing a compensatory function. The results obtained can be used in the course of student training, as well as in the work of curators of student groups and in the activities of the psychological service of universities.

The requirement to submit and publish scientific articles in indexed journals has become a part and parcel of life in academia. Although Russian scientists are becoming more visible in the world of science due to their research achievements, they are not sufficiently recognised by a wide audience for several reasons. In this study, we scrutinize the published papers of Russian researchers working in the domains of social sciences and humanities. We aim at investigating the logic and organisation of such publications to see how the articles correspond to the meta-requirements established by the international academia. To achieve the goal we have analysed the logic and organisation of 55 published articles from the Russian scientometric database e-Library. The results emphasise that most Russian researchers do not follow the IMRaD format accepted by the majority of international journals. As a result, such articles have minimal chances to be accepted by international editors. This is not surprising, as unclear structure means lack of readability and, consequently, loss of readers accustomed to a certain article format. This situation causes concerns because Russian scientists do have a lot to say to the world of science.