The paper highlights the development of the requirements to modern qualifications in education and in the job market based on professional standards in the conditions of the national qualification system formation. It is shown that the qualifications of graduates formed in the process of practical-oriented education taking into account professional standards, differ greatly form the qualifications used in the real sphere of professional activity. Harmonization of qualifications can be ensured by the correspondence between the level of a graduate’s qualifications and the requirements of labour market, and also by the efficiency of interaction between higher education institutions and employers.

The strategic objective of Surgut State University is its transformation into a new type of university, supporting and providing innovative economic development of the region through concentration of intellectual potential, modern scientific and educational infrastructure which meet the requirements of regional business. Such modernization is determined by the policy of the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug –Yugra, according to which education sector is regarded as the most important resource for the development of the region. This determines the necessity to improve the model of the third mission of a university – Community Service.

The article considers the principal development stages of classification of professional educational programs in the Russian Federation, the peculiarities of an actual status and possible perspectives of their development. The liberalization of the State educational standards, the expansion of educational institutions independence in relation to the questions of educational programs formation justify the necessity of the development of a new classification system for Russian education. The classification system, which is currently under elaboration, should become a common tool for all professional educational programs, including the professional programs and additional professional programs.

The paper analyzes the imbalance in the system of professional education limiting the development of a petrochemical-gas complex (PCGC) and causing deficiency of workforce. The authors formulate the problems of staffing of petroleum and gas enterprises and a problem of competitive labor collectives formation and development. Various ways of university transition to university of a new type are considered. The paper dwells on the bases for the development of Kazan National Research Technological University as a university of a new type. The authors present two conceptions of engineering education in KNRTU: 1) the modernization of engineering education based on the improvement of an educational program, and 2) training of engineering personnel in the field of chemical technologies. These two conceptions are considered as a basis for a strategy of development of the University.

This article discusses the demands that the digital economy and the modern labor market make on engineering education. The authors dwell on the issues of the formation of an educational space for training of engineers, the construction of an educational process on the basis of the project model of training. The question under consideration is whether the profession of an engineer is elite or mass. The paper proposes the classification of engineering labor depending on the nature of the work performed, presents new basic skills required for engineers to successfully enter the labor market in the digital economy. It is concluded that there is a need for a radical change in the educational process of engineer training, for attracting employers to the training process not only at the stage of students’ practical skills formation, but also at the stage of planning the educational process as a whole. The goal of these changes is, ultimately, reducing the time of specialists’ adaptation in workplace. This will enable the methods and technologies of the digital economy to be early implemented.

The industry/business community is demanding graduates who can perform in a real world environment. Industry-derived student projects provide a unique learning opportunity that makes the student’s technical knowledge relevant to real problems. International projects where students must work with students from different cultures add the many issues of culture and communication that real global team must face. This paper describes a proven model for incorporating these projects into a university curriculum and merits being at the core of University 3.0.

The labor market imposes new requirements to a contemporary engineer: he should be capable of working in groups and managing other people, ready for teamwork, independent decision making, setting and solving new professional problems, independent investigation and implementation of professional innovations. These competencies should be developed at universities. Any pedagogical system exists by means of collaboration between professors and students, between students themselves, i.e. implies collaborative learning thus leading to personal growth of educational process participants. Students develop a positive and active attitude towards their future professional responsibilities only by setting and reaching cognitive goals. Collaborative learning technologies contribute to the formation of this attitude. The paper focuses on the detailed mechanisms of collaborative learning technologies at different levels of education – from teaching and learning processes at special college to international research collaboration between professors. The author shows the collaborative learning contribution to universal synergy.

The paper considers two aspects of the problem of multidisciplinary education: the first, as an effective interaction between business and academic communities to establish a new normative base for qualifications; and the second, as a purely educational problem that can be solved by using a complex of approaches, as Gubkin University’s experience shows. These approaches include: creating the special environment (infrastructure) of interdisciplinary education such as the virtual organization representing a network of computerized workstations and training facilities for specialists and operators of various professions as well as digital models of work objects and means; designing of scenarios for multidisciplinary training for various types of multidisciplinary activities such as research, design, diagnostics, and management of technological processes; identifying, within the core curricula programs (CCP) of educational institutions, the disciplines or courses delivered in the multidisciplinary format and synchronized for different CCP through course scheduling.

The article continues the topological study of social networks created by universities which are engaged in entrepreneurial activities and strive to become members of industrial clusters. Certain procedures of real network design are used to build the algorithms of operations with descriptors characterizing the transformations which take place both inside the universities being an innovative ecosystem and systems with their participation. Dynamic network descriptors fall into functional descriptors that depend on the network function achievement and search descriptors that represent the network activity in searching an optimal strategy of the development. A set of characteristics inherent in the above mentioned descriptors is revealed and used for investigating the networks with participation of business-oriented universities. The article shows the qualities necessary for developing successful business-oriented strategies of the university and forming the environment favorable to entrepreneurship.

The conditions of the traditional resources limitation compel the universities to improve their efficiency by means of transition from extensive to intensive development, i.e. by using the internal resources.The purpose of the article is the analysis of the situations when the effectiveness of a university is mostly determined by the socio-psychological determinants, such as personality of a University head, his (her) characteristics, experience, professional competence, and others. Using the method of logical-psychological analysis the authors have found the most favorable conditions for the University’s effectiveness, when the rector – an official head is also recognized as a leader of a team and characterized by self-confidence as an essential quality of a leader. It is the most important «soft» competence which is relevant for a modern manager. The correlations between certain aspects of the University leader self-confidence and some university resources are revealed. It is concluded that the leadership capacity of the University head is a basic inner resource for University’s effective and stable movement forward. The paper formulates the proposals improve the mechanism of nomination of candidates for position passing interview and examination at the Attestation Commission under the Ministry of education and science of the Russian Federation.

The article analyzes the trends in the development of university graduates’ career trajectory formation: transition from the model of probable development paths depending on abilities, knowledge, skills (career guidance) – to the model of individual career management, which depends on the individual’s awareness of personal, institutional and social resources and tools, as well as the ability to skillfully apply them, from the paradigm of career planning to the career management paradigm. The authors have analyzed the social practices and identified the groups of factors that shape the graduates’ career trajectories on three levels: 1) personal (key types of literacy and basic skills of the 21st century, the level of awareness (assessment of what is happening, personal motives, resources, skills, knowledge, understanding the context of situation, self-esteem); self-development (the ability to explore, show interest, initiative), the ability to make various choices (evaluation of the importance of choice, awareness of choice), the ability to act purposefully (the ability to implement ideas, skill planning, managing internal and external resources), the ability to inform others on the results of one’s work (reflection, evaluation, etc.), 2) institutional (educational organization, the system of additional education for advanced training, the system of higher education, Federal state educational standards, the National Qualifications Framework, the Register of Professional Standards, various national and international recruitment agencies, employment centers, vocational guidance centers for testing and training, etc.) and 3) the social level (mobility, movement of labor resources, migration, social, resource and natural risks, etc.). The article analyzes the actualization of these factors as applied to the current sociocultural situation in Russia.

The article presents a spectrum of approaches to designing the master’s program «Physics and Mathematics Education» in the context of the introduction of professional standards, including the following: an analysis of the requirements of the regional labor market; consideration of different levels of training and motivation of different target groups; methodological bases for determining the structure of competencies; the modular design of educational program; determination of module content and technological content; an analysis of professional standards and their relationship with the Federal state educational standard of higher education; organizational and methodical approaches to assessment of results through different types of practices; introduction of the final interdisciplinary examination in the subject modules. The paper gives recommendations on making the changes in the organization of the educational process at university: at the level of a teacher, at the level of educational program realization and at the level of university.

The paper analyzes of the actual state of Modern Greek language teaching to history students. The article outlines the main difficulties faced by professors in teaching and students in mastering this rare language; describes the range of available textbooks and other teaching materials, notes their advantages and disadvantages; examines actual student books, workbooks and other teaching support materials for their relevance to perform the effective training of students of historical specialties; explores the possibilities of the Internet and its resources available today that contribute to the performance of the task.

Nowadays the development of higher education is characterized by diversified research in the field of teaching technologies implementation. At the same time technologies of joint activities, and more specifically – achievement of a joint result is not under specific focus. In the article, based on the analysis of the distinctive features of partnership technology, the construct of the activity on the technology inoculation was drawn up and the structure of its effective implementation in the educational process was developed. To confirm the proposed approach methods of modeling, designing, direct and included surveillance, and diagnostics were implemented.

The paper presents a panorama of European Quality Assurance Forums (EQAF) and their topical focus. The authors give their opinion that for the purposes of academic communication we need to develop a glossary completely reflecting theoretical, conceptual, methodological and practical wealth in this area. While addressing topics within the whole “perimeter” of all forums held, the paper focuses mainly on the selected materials of the eighth EQAF. The authors consider issues concerning the defining of the concept of “higher education quality” and developing the institutional quality culture. The paper dwells on the barriers to European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) implementation. Attention is given to accreditation processes, especially to the balance between “accountability” and “enhancement”. The paper also touches upon the issues of criteria validity and the indicators for higher education quality.

In the framework of Tatarstan Gas and Petrochemical Forum (Kazan’, September 7–8) a round table discussion “Engineering Pedagogy: Methodological Issues” was held. The discussion was organized by Kazan National Research Technological University and the Editorial Board of the journal Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii (Higher Education in Russia). The participants were the leading researchers and experts in engineering education and engineering pedagogy.

The article, in a comparative context, considers the features of the Russian model of education, and the role of education in the process of social evolution of Russia since Peter the Great’s reforms until 1917. The paper justifies the concept of advanced development of education. In Russia it acted as a main driving force of the country’s modernization. Particular attention is paid to the role of education in the transformation of the social structure of Russian society, including the formation of meritocratic elite of a modern type. Considering the sociocultural processes in the Russian society of the times of Alexander III and Nicholas II, the author draws attention to a new educational request from society and the educational boom that took place during this period. From his point of view, this educational boom served as a real beginning of the cultural revolution, which was then continued in the post-October period of Russia’ s history.