The paper presents the results of the search, systematization and analysis of independent higher education evaluation systems that have been developed in the country in the recent decade. The research has been carried out using standardised evaluation mechanisms that adhere to the criteria of mass scale, openness, and stability. The analysis of the independent evaluation of higher education’s present situation revealed certain inconsistencies between the legislative and regulatory framework and real practice. It should be emphasised that, while different processes have now been developed for this type of evaluation, they still require enhancement. The assessment mechanisms themselves need to undergo an external, independent evaluation to ensure their reliability, integrity, and trustworthy evidence. It has been indicated that independent evaluation procedures have jointly developed into a system: the institution of independent evaluation. This system is characterised by integrity, orderliness, and definite linkages. One may consider the aggregating technology of the aforementioned evalu-
ations to be the synergistic outcome of the system’s establishment. In order to achieve a synergistic effect on the evaluation of all higher education institutions and educational programmes in the country, the authors suggest a method for aggregating the outcomes of the described evaluation procedures. The obtained research outcomes prove their applicability to the internal and external evaluation of a higher education institution’s performance and to the strategic planning of the development of both the institution and the higher education system.

   The article explores the level of involvement of scientific and pedagogical professionals in various social activities for professional development compared to other employee groups. It argues that obtaining additional professional training can be a valuable tool for career growth. The author sees professional development as an integral part of academic growth for scientific and educational workers, along with personal and career development. The findings are based on a combination of theoretical and empirical research conducted by domestic and international scholars, as well as official statistical data and the results of an original sociological study. The study involved a questionnaire survey of scientific and educational professionals (n = 223), as well as other employee groups (n = 833), in the Tyumen and Sverdlovsk regions. As a result, it was found that scientific and pedagogical workers are more likely to engage in professional development activities compared to other categories of the employed population. Continuing professional education programs appear to be the most common form of professional growth. Due to their specialized activities, academic staff tend to develop digital skills more often, while other groups develop personal skills to a greater degree. Based on the level of involvement in professional development, we identified five groups of respondents: “active and engaged”, “achieving the desired level or feeling disappointed”, “questioning or confused”, “recognizing the importance of professional development”, and “rejecting professional development”. The theoretical and empirical findings led to the development of potential strategies to enhance the engagement of scientific and educational professionals in ongoing skill development and acquisition of new competencies. This article is aimed at university management responsible for professional development of academic staff. The findings presented here may have practical implications for the development of personnel strategies at universities with the goal of increasing human capital and professional competence among academic staff, as well as motivating them to engage in continuous learning. The results of this study could be beneficial for participants in the academic community, as well as for specialists involved in developing educational programs and planning the future of universities strategically. The material presented in this paper is relevant not only for academic staff, but also for graduate students who are focused on their continuous professional growth within the academic sector.

   The present paper is devoted to the search for successful experience and analysis of the problems of supporting students’ research work (R&D) and scientific mentoring in Russian universities.

   The relevance of the topic is due to the need to evaluate approaches to stimulating not only research and development, but also the activities of scientific mentors in terms of the sustainability and effectiveness of the impact of existing support measures on student involvement in science and
teachers’ motivation to mentoring activities.

   Since the interaction of students and scientific mentors, implemented in the unique organizational conditions of each particular university, and a typical all-Russian context, forms an ecosystem, the article focuses on considering measures to support research and scientific mentoring in interrelation.

   The purpose of the article is to consider measures to support research and scientific mentoring in Russian universities.

   The results of an empirical study conducted in 2024 using the methods of traditional analysis of documents (normative legal acts on measures to support research and development at the federal, regional and local levels) and a semi-structured interview with scientific mentors from among academic staff of universities (n = 30) are presented.

   Main results: generalization of measures to support research and development at three levels (federal, regional and local) of higher education management. It is shown that, at the federal level, they are worded extremely broadly, allowing the regions and universities to specify and refine them.
The uneven distribution of support measures by region and their emphasis on financial incentives are revealed. It is concluded that each university has a limited number of documents regulating the support of research and mentoring. The contradictions in the attitude of the academic staff to the measures of support for research and scientific mentoring were disclosed. The prospects for the development of a research programme to support research and scientific mentoring in universities are considered.

   This work investigates the academic performance of students enrolled in the “Social Elevator” program at Higher School of Economics (HSE University), which operates under the principle of affirmative action and aims to assist those students who have lower chances of admission due to various social reasons in a highly competitive environment. Objective admissions in Russian universities and the high selectivity of the HSE University, discussed in this paper, do not confidently allow the application of conclusions from foreign studies to the Russian experience. The program had not been previously researched. It was assumed that students of the program would show higher performance than their peers admitted on a general basis – this assumption follows from qualitative research that found that students of this program possess a progressive narrative of overcoming inequality. Regression with dummy variables based on administrative data on student performance and survey data on the socio-economic status of students are used for the analysis. According to the regression analysis results, all else being equal, students of the “Social Elevator” program demonstrate lower performance than students admitted on budgetary places on general grounds, although they average grades at the “good” level and therefore have a chance to get a return to education and overcome inequality. Further research on the topic is required to separate the secondary effects of inequality, as well as to assess the actual social mobility of students participating in the program. The results can be useful in designing educational policy in the field of expanding access to higher education.

   The research aim is to analyze how the tools for promoting export of Russian higher education as a service have changed (if they have) and identify the results of their application.

   The study is based on the analysis of Russian official and departmental documents regulating educational export, as well as statistical data on Russian higher education system. Literature analysis indicates growing research interest in educational export, but there is no common methodology for assessing its effectiveness. Using indicators elaborated by researchers and analysts, authors try to classify the specific instruments for higher education export and access their results at the country level and the National Research Tomsk State University (TSU). It is concluded that Russia uses three groups of tools to promote higher education export to generate income, attract talents and improve the living conditions of students. The effectiveness of these tools is relative due to external circumstances (COVID-2019 pandemic, the sanctions regime against Russia) and the higher education system itself, for which the interpretation of education as a service is relatively new. The case of TSU shows that provincial universities mainly educate students from the CIS countries, and they were able to relatively quickly reorient their activities. At the same time, Russia faces increased competition with other countries in the CIS, and the high cost of education export instruments (the creation of branches, joint educational programs) forces them to make additional efforts to recruit students even at traditional directions of education export.

   The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis of the success factors in university technological entrepreneurial projects, based on a unique empirical dataset created with the support of the project office and the office for promoting the federal project «University Technological Entrepreneurship Platform». The dataset includes a ranking of over 1,000 university projects from 2023, each of which contains information on approximately 35 characteristics, both financial and non-financial. The success indicators selected for analysis are the «final ranking position» and «investment attractiveness of the project». Statistical methods, implemented through Python libraries, were used to examine the relationships between different forms of project support and the aforementioned characteristics. The results highlight the critical role of the university environment in supporting entrepreneurial projects, while also revealing that specific support measures can exhibit varying degrees of association with project success. Two key findings are noteworthy. First, there is no positive correlation between the project’s strong embeddedness in the university environment (e.g., a team assembled within the university or a project initially started as an academic exercise) and the project’s success. Second, among the support measures implemented within the current federal project «University Technological Entrepreneurship Platform», the strongest association with the success of entrepreneurial initiatives is found in participation in startup studios. Considering contemporary discussions on the need to seek new solutions to enhance the educational and life experiences of modern students, bringing them closer to the realities of a dynamically changing labor market, the university startup studio model may serve as a source for developing new models of university organization.

   The article proposes an approach to analyzing the spatial organization of the Russian higher education system. Methodologically, the study relies on the theory of structural functionalism. In order to solve the stated research problems, the authors used comparative historical and economic-statistical analyses, as well as the quick survey method. The study characterizes the specifics of the Russian system of single-industry towns and justifies the role of a single-industry town as an integral and essential element of the settlement system. The study also reveals structural and functional changes in
the Russian system of higher education that significantly limit the possibility of preserving universities and/or their branches in single-industry towns. It was proved that the functions of higher education institutions in a single-industry town are multifaceted, complex in nature, and not limited only to the sphere of education. In spite of this, the higher education system in single-industry towns downsizes at a significantly faster rate than in the country as a whole. The performed analysis shows that the persisting trend toward increasing territorial concentration in the country’s system of higher education can create a set of negative effects that have a disruptive impact on the national settlement system, the continuity of complex value chains, and the social stability of local communities in single-industry towns. A conclusion is made about the need for comprehensive solutions regarding the development of higher education in single-industry towns that combine both national mechanisms for achieving national goals and the toolkits of regional, industrial, educational, and corporate policies.