The article deals with the problems arising in connection with the development of curricula for basic educational programs based on the Federal State Educational Standard 3+ in multi-disciplinary higher educational institutions. The article also proposes some improvements to the educational system basing on the experience of Tula State University in implementing module-based curriculum as a step for transition to asynchronous education.

The main issue of the article isan unprecedented analysis of constantly increasing volume of documents circulation, mainly external, at higher education institution. On the basis of accurate data, it is emphasized that it leads to the decline of economic efficiency and decreased quality of educational institution functioning. Furthermore, changing qualitative and quantitative characteristics produce negative economic, organizational, and psychological consequences in the activities of the university. The authors come to a conclusion that in order to solve the problem stated above the optimization of documents circulation is necessary and beneficial for higher education institution functioning.

The article considers the new ways and methods for improving the efficiency of national student contests and Olympiads as a tool for identifying and supporting young talents. The authors suggest a new approach to the organization of the Olympiad movement including such principles as the limitation of the state’s role (it should be only a general initiator and supporter), segmentation of contest types, determination of contestants’ level, finding the optimal combinationbetween of the system’s stability and its capability to develop.

The article is devoted to the modernization problems of national education and is aimed to analyze the system’s ability to achieve the objectives of the development of intellectual potential of the country. The author offers to consider the methodological errors of the educational policy of the last decades: the orientation to the Euro-American economic model; the assignment of secondary and higher education to the service sector and commercialization; the definition of education as a process (standard quantitative parameters of quality, scientometrics in the ranking ofscientific personnel, and others), the loss of valuable meanings in the content of education, the speculative replacement of the main ideological mission of education with a set of competences - the destruction of teacher education. These errors led to a crisis of the system, and a way out of this crisis is possible only with a radical reform of teacher education, providing an ideological position and a clarity of values.

The article considers a new phenomenon of the modern science and technology- technoscience. Technoscience is a combination of the natural scientific theory and engineering theory. This is also a new way of the communication between science and society and between science and politics. The article analyzesinterdisciplinarity of technoscience and the role of the theoretical investigation in technoscience. Representative example of technoscience is nanotechnoscience.

This is a methodological review of a case study discourse in humanities teaching; the focus is on the role and significance of scientific methods in the practices of reproduction and development of education. The heuristic value of the case study is demonstrated, followed by a discussionof the educational prerequisites for the application of the casestudy procedure and the use of its results inpredicting educational change. The aim was to develop an operating framework for supervisors and academic advisors to practitioners of innovative methods of education and students of a variety of education-related issues.

The article highlights the problem of the research activities of state universities, located in the Russian regions. Discusses the role of universities in socio-economic development ofregions in theprocess of transitionto innovative economy. The research activity of universities is considered within the model of the triple helix theory of innovation development. Proposes classification of scientific priorities, taking into account the interests of the regional economy and the conditions of scientific-pedagogical staff of universities in part, such as publication activity, the formation of the wage and the organization of students’ research work. It is assumed that the university can be an innovation hub of regional technological platforms.

The article presents the historical path, the current state and the development prospects of the largest university in the Chuvash Republic - The Ulianov Chuvash State University. The authors examine various types of activities of the university: education, scientific research, training, and others.

The article analyzes the state of engineering education in Chuvash Republic after signing the Bologna Declaration and the introduction of the new FSES VPO of the third generation; proposes measures for the preservation of the basic foundations of national engineering education. The main idea concerns the formation of a modified baccalaureate model including various modulars and profiles with the different education periods. This model should combine the methodological principles of Bologna Declaration and the advantages of Russian engineering education.

The article considers the issues of network cooperation between higher professional, secondary professional educational institutions and enterprises. Integrated structures appear to be an integral part of engineers’ training system in modern conditions. The educational scientific centre based on Chuvash State University and Electromechanical College is viewed as an example of such integrated structure focused on the development of highly technological production works.

The article examines the necessity, goals and tasks ofpsycho-pedagogical support of university entrants in the continuing education system. The functional two-stage model of psychological and pedagogical support of university entrants is offered. The testing results of this model in the period of admission campaign 2014 of the Chuvash State University are submitted for discussion.

The article describes the experience of the educational work of the lecturers of historical-geographical faculty of the CSU of I.N. Ulyanov. A combination of manifold forms and methods in this area of educational activity ensures its efficiency. CSU of I.N. Ulyanov was the first university to introduce for all first-course students the discipline “Civic studies and patriotic education” aimed at formation of socially active persons ready for performance of civic duties.

The empirical base of the article is the materials of the survey conducted in 2012 in Perm National Research Polytechnic University (PNRPU), which is one of the largest universities in Perm. The study was conducted by the method of a questionnaire survey. The objects of the research were the second-year and fourth-year students of PNRPU and also master degree students. The size of a sample is 799 people. We investigated the personality awareness of information society, in particular the opinion of respondents about higher education and its role in the transformation of society. The position of students, which implies underdevelopment of the information society, is illustrated. The key differences between information society model and the modern stage are selected.

The article analyzes the development of volunteer activities at higher education institutions, considers the basic steps for creating a volunteer center at university: from conceptual development of volunteerism to elaboration of criteria for its estimation. The author dwell on the main problems for the development of volunteering at universities, such as an inadequate the legal and regulatory framework, uncertain status of volunteer activities at higher education institution, decrease of students’ interest, non-interaction between participation in volunteer projects and formation of professional skills. The main tasks for volunteer centers: popularization of the ideas and values of volunteerism among the students and the development of the effective teaching system for volunteers.

This article describes the formats of interaction between Student Business Incubator as a center for youth innovative entrepreneurship at the contemporary university and departments and external environment of theuniversity. The authors analyze the problems and suggest solutions based on the experience of the activities of Student Business Incubator of the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, which is the center for youth innovative entrepreneurship in the region.

The paper analyzes indicators that are used in higher education institutions and autonomous campuses monitoring, and reveals the corresponding problems, which arise from implementing these indicators to autonomous campuses in Russian small cities. The authors arrive at the conclusion that without higher education institutions Russian small cities do not have development perspectives. In medium-term perspective it signifies an extreme polarization of economic space of Russian Federation.

Discuss issues of training of graduates of transport logistics educational programs in the context of advanced professional activities. Context is modeled in terms established in MADI scientific and educational center of transport logistics «REC-TL.»

The article touches upon the problem of shortage and even absence of experts, capable to solve the questions concerning technical regulation of quality and safety of production in the conditions of the Customs Union, Uniform economic space and the WTO. Kazan National Research Technological University has elaborated special skill raising programs in the sphere of organization, functioning, and administration of the system of technical regulation adapted to the requirements of the Customs Union and WTO. The authors came to a conclusion of the necessity of introducing into curricular of economic and engineering universities anew economicdiscipline -“Economics, trade policy and WTO law and practice”.

The article examines education of engineering workforce as one of the priority areas for the US education system development, analyzes the structure of undergraduate engineering programs, discusses the quality of engineering education, as well as the issue of meeting the requirements of the labor market and other problems of the USeducation system, related to educating highly-qualified specialists in engineering.

The article offers a comparative analysis for two testing systems: USE (Unified State Examination) introduced in Russia, and ACT (American College Testing) used in the USA. Starting from aims and intentions and followed by organizational aspects, differences in these two systems are discussed in the paper. Dissimilarities concern the final use of the both systems, tested parameters, the number of tests, periodicity of examinations and the time the results are valid. It is underlined in the article, that the main parameters, strongly monitored in the ACT system, are the qualities, defining the readiness of enrollees to study at Universities.

The article is an attempt to analyze the difficulties in the use of interactive methods in the educational process from the positions of teachers and students.