The article is devoted to the experience of establishing a Research and EducationCenter (REC) «Nonlinear Dynamics of Complex Systems» at Saratov State Technical University named after Yuri Gagarin. The basic objective of REC was conducting of innovative interdisciplinary studies based on the application of the methods and concepts of nonlinear dynamics and integrated technologies (nano-, bio-, information and cognitive) with the active participation of students, postgraduates and young scientists. An important feature of the REC’s activity is a systematic participation of the leading Russian and foreign scientists, which is expressed in scientific workshops conducted on the basis of Saratov State Technical University, lectures for the students of the Technical University, as well as a work as the supervisors of the scientific projects and grants supported by international programs, the Russian Federal Program «Human resources», Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Ministry of Education and Science.

The article suggests a complex approach to the monitoring of graduates’ employment. Analytical materials about employment of graduates of higher education institutions were formed in accordance with the findings of monitoring.

The article analyzes the current state of economy sector of higher education in Russia. It is noted that the efficiency of education depends on the efficiency of its institutions. The author draws a conclusion on the exhaustion of opportunities of the working model of professional education financing. Two new models of financing, capable to have an impact onthe increase of the efficiency of institutions of education are offered. The first model assumesan increase in cost of training on condition of increase in the period of calculation. The second model assumes strengthening of a role of state regulation of the financial relations in higher education at reduction of volumes of the budgetary financing. Features of models in relation to an open foreign market of educational services are specified. Problems of growth of the efficiency at preservation of modern budgetary financing are noted.

In this article some objective difficulties are analyzed, which arise when higher education system is proceeding to the implementation of the major educational programs according to the competency-based FGOS VPO. The imperfection of its constructive component is pointed out, when solving didactic problems of Russian higher education. Some distinctive features of competencies in US higher education are discussed. Some significant differences оf the approaches to their implementation in Russian and US higher education systems are indicated.

The article offers a concept of the development of new federal state standards for higher education. The distinctive feature of the proposed standards is to establish relations between the education objectives and disciplinary field of an education program. This allows to link more closely the developed standards to the international system of personnel training and contributes to the creation of a common education space both within the country and international cooperation. This can be ensured by making up catalogues with lists of disciplines and annotations of education programs. Applying to Russian conditions such catalogues canbe elaborated for aggregate groups of disciplines. An integrated quality assessment of learning outcomes includes a case study collection for evaluation of professional goals achievement. The ability to solve case study tasks can be considered as a main criterion of a graduate’s training quality.

The article dwells on the standard and legal basics of the development of an applied bachelor degree and the advantages of its introduction. The comparative analysis of the model of the state education standard on the academic and applied bachelor degree is made. There are also proposed some measures for implementation of a branch applied bachelor degree. The main statements are the following: 1) an applied baccalaureate is a level of higher education, 2) a bachelor has an opportunity to enter magistracy, 3) education programs of applied baccalaureate should be practice oriented, 4) an applied baccalaureate is a separate field in the corresponding training area: it doesn’t require an additional accreditation, 5) an applied baccalaureate has its own title, 6) an applied bachelor gets a qualification according tothe title of the corresponding education program.

Competence (Self)Assessment Interactive System of Tomsk Polytechnic University’s (TPU) Academic Staff developed on the base of the competency model is presented. Reasons and aims of the system development are indicated. Stages and methods of the work, and interface requirements are briefly considered, and the problems of the system functioning at TPU are denoted. The feasibility of applying the competency model and the (self)assessment system constructed on its base for the solution of the problems of the University academic staff professional development, and increasing its effectiveness and quality of activities is substantiated.

This article describes the formation of Webometrics rating, analyzes the strongand weak points of the methodology on the example UlSTU site. Also on the basis of UlSTU experience the paper suggests the ways to strengthen the position of Russian universities in this rating. The article analyzes the opportunities and challenges to increase the publication activity in journals included into the international databases such as Web of Science and Scopus for regional higher education institutions. The authors proposed to take into account factors affecting the employment of graduates, university participation in international projects aimed at improving the quality of education. It is advisable to consider the amount of intellectual property in the main results of the work of an engineering university in addition to journal publications.

The article discusses the application of CAD systems in technical students’ training. Design procedure by means of CAD have a number of advantages as it gets students the possibility to understand much more better the complicated physical processes that take place in designed device or system. This CAD project method of students training promotes the formation of system method of thinking and allows making the education process more effective. The student’s designing problem may be more complicated because of powerful possibilities of CAD. That makes student’s project closer with industry requests. So CAD application in education process assists to form the necessary professional competences.

Interdisciplinary project is one of the effective educational technologies used in MIET as a part of the competence building approach. The experience in the development of the methodical documents for such projects implementation is described in this paper. The list of recommended structural methodological elements for interdisciplinary project realization as a students’ competence building tool is proposed. In addition to this, the content of methodological support preparation stages is provided. The description of the courses sequence in the interdisciplinary project is given as an example.

The article is devoted to the creation and development of innovative infrastructure of university. The coordinating function of the research and education complex is accomplished by the Arctic innovative center. The article focuses on the goals, the key areas of its activity, describes the main achievements of the research laboratories and the activities of small innovation enterprises.

The article dwells on the role of engineering education in the innovative development of the North-East of the country. The basic principles of advanced technical education and the ways of their implementation are presented. First of all it is necessary to ensure interdisciplinarity and polydisciplinarity of research activities, the rational combination of research, project and entrepreneurial activities. Secondly, the university should develop the real mechanisms of interaction with business, industry and research institutes on the basis of state-private partnership and create the regional engineering clusters with the experimental grounds for testing of innovation technologies in northeast climate conditions. The third principle implies optimization of students’ self-dependent work including participation of students in team project activities with the attraction of employers and practical experts.

The article is devoted to the study of the languages of indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East living in the Russian Federation. An accent is made on the identity of national languages in terms of the destruction of the traditionalnomadic way of life, a breach of centuries-old family relations.

The article analyses the role of the North-Eastern Federal University n.a. M.K. Ammosov in the field of education, personnel training, fundamental and applied scientific research in the Arctic, in the light of new challenges of time. The active processes of strengthening of the international contacts and interaction among the Arctic States in theeconomy, in the field of scientific research, security, cultural and educational exchange take place in Arctic now. Climate change is one of the most important international problems of the 21st century, which is beyond the scope of scientific problems and represents a complex interdisciplinary issue, encompassing environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable development in the Arctic. Priority objective for the new ways of the Arctic system development is the management of the Arctic territories on the federal, regional and municipal level and formation of the «Arctic» legal regulatory base, which should create a special legal regime for economic, social, environmental and other activities with an emphasis on innovative and social development aimed at improving the life quality of northerners. The author provides a legal support of the projects in the sphere of research work of structural divisions of North-Eastern Federal University n.a. M.K. Ammosov including the projects in the sphere of environmental protection in the Arctic, on development of original culture, native languages of peoples of the North, protection of traditional nature use of the territories.

The article discusses the role of the Federal University in the development of the educational policy in the Northeastern region of Russia. North-Eastern Federal University is one of the nine Federal universities of Russia, which calls to consolidate scientific and educational resources. It generates knowledge and innovation, creates conditions for technological break through in economy and sociocultural development of the North-Eastern Russian population. One of the main activities of the University is an international partnership. The article dwells on the university international projects including Double-Degree programs and enrolment of foreign students, and the role of the Department “Russian as a Foreign Language” in this process. The Department lecturers not only teach foreign citizens Russian language but also involve them in research work.

The article discusses the topical problem concerning the development of road network in Sakha Republic. Due to the vast territory of the region, its socio(economic development largely depends on the efficient functioning of the transportation system. The article briefly dwells on the participation of Road Faculty of the North-Eastern Federal University in solving the task of road construction in the region.

The present article describes recent initiatives undertaken by the Russian Government that are aimed at increasing the effectiveness of universities’ operation through their reorganization in the form of a merger or acquisition. The author describes the process of organization of an annual monitoring of Russian universities that is conducted to identify universities and universities’ branches showing signs of inefficiency. The article also provides information about the results of monitoring over the past two years and plans of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation of reformation of inefficient universities and universities’ branches.The article dwells on mergers and acquisitions of universities that have occurred in the sector of higher education in Russia over the past few years. The author analyzes typology and geographical location of merged universities. Special attention is paid to the network of federal universities established to develop human capital in the federal districts of Russia. A special example of RANEPA is mentioned as the first Presidential Academy that is formed by the merger of a large number of higher and additional professional education institutions and their branches. The uniqueness of the Academy lies in its extensive territorial structure uniting educational institutions of different levels,located in 53 regions of the country. The article also describes the main objectives behind the leading Russian universities that were formed by merger. The analysis showed that since 2007 there have been over 100 reorganizations of universities in Russia, of which more than 90% supposed that various educational organizations were attached to universities. There were not only horizontal mergers, which suppose that a university is merged with other universities, but also vertical mergers when universities are merged with general, secondary vocational educational institutions. The article describes general trends is state universities’ integration programs of European countries - Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, and also China. The author analysesstate programs aimed at promoting and supporting university mergers, that where realized in these countries in recent years. The first results of the implementation of these programs and the most interesting practices of universities’ mergers in these countries are described.

The article considers the background and conditions of reforming ESP teaching practice and ESP teachers’ retraining in non-linguistic universities in Russia.The factors of internationalization influence on Russian Higher Professional Education (HPE) competitiveness are listed, as well as professional risks of insufficient lingvo-professional competence. The role of university language policy in implementing the government strategy of HPE internationalization is determined.

The article views the general methodology for objective evaluation of scientificand pedagogical activity of teaching personnel in higher education institutions with the status of «national research university». This methodology is based on a ranking system for estimation of actual work performed by a lecturer in his professional duties. It has been noted that despite of its relative complexity, it generally seems to be quite acceptable for implementation at institutions of higher education of the above categories.

Writing research as a new field of analytical work and writing as practical pedagogy addressing the needs of the broad spectrum of students are discussed, with particular attention to the results of the international congress “Writing research across borders” (Paris, February 18-22, 2014).