In the context of Russian higher education modernization, merger of universities is viewed as one of the tools to increase their competitiveness. At the same time, the impact of the unification of universities on the competitiveness of their educational activities has not been subjected to special research. In this regard, the purpose of this publication is to substantiate scientifically the key aspects of the relationship between the merger of universities and the competitiveness of their educational activities in order to develop practical recommendations for managing the process of university merger.

As an empirical base of the research, the published data on 53 leading universities in Russia were used, most of them have experienced merger processes (federal universities, Universities of Project 5-100, national research universities, “first wave” pillar universities). As a methodical basis for the study, we used generalization, comparison, abstraction, prediction; methods of empirical research: interviewing focus groups, content analysis of universities’ Web sites, expert evaluation, case-method.

The paper considers the theoretical and methodological grounds of university competitiveness in the conditions of higher education modernization, measurement indicators and factors influencing the competitiveness of university’s educational activity. The analysis of the results of university merger is carried out, the specifics of this processes as an instrument for the development of higher education in Russia is highlighted. A methodology has been developed and implemented to justify the interconnection of universities and the competitiveness of their educational activities. The key aspects of the interconnection of university associations and the competitiveness of their educational activities have been determined, taking into account the positive and negative effects resulting from the merger. The author gives practical recommendations on managing the process of university merger with the purpose to increase the level of competitiveness of their educational activities.

The results of the conducted research show the direct relationship between the process of universities’ merger and the preservation of their competitiveness in the development of educational activities. The author stresses the predominantly positive impact of merger processes on the educational potential of an enlarged university. 

The article addresses an actual problem of using horizontal methods in university management in Russia. Two organizational processes are analyzed, which are relatively new for Russian universities, which came, in many respects, from the Western education system: postgraduate training (Master’s programs) and training of foreign citizens in the preparatory departments (programs in Russian). These two processes, in the opinion of the author, over the past few years could become a platform for approbation of new modern approaches to management in Russian universities and institutes. The sample study included three federal universities located in one of the regions of Russia (classical university, university for humanities and pedagogy, and institute of culture and arts). It is shown that large educational organizations, as a rule, try to integrate new processes in the traditional (vertical) management structure. The basic prerequisites for implementing horizontal ma- nagement in the institutes of culture, were mainly economic, not organizational or innovative. At the same time, the practical experience of using mixed (horizontal-vertical) management structures in the Chelyabinsk State Institute of Culture and Arts showed positive results both in terms of economic and educational-organizational indicators.

The article raises the issue of the need to fix in professional standards, which are the  main normative documents in the field of qualifications, the requirements concerning the mandatory  continuity of professional competencies of employees, including through the institution of additional professional education. The authors propose possible options for introducing these requirements  without changing the established format of professional standards. The article substantiates the  leading role of research and design universities as the system-forming structures in the knowledge  industry in the formation of qualification requirements for new areas and types of professional activity, the necessity to develop and implement professional retraining programs for specialists before  they officially acquire the corresponding status and the professional standards will be developed and  approved for them.

The paper presents a review of literature and other sources of information concerning the fourth industrial revolution and the development of the digital economy. The tasks of improving the education system including higher education and engineering training are actualized. The author analyzes the development of online technologies in education, as well as blended learning, combining the advantages of traditional and online education. The paper dwells on the peculiarities of training engineers and the best practices of applying blended learning in engineering education, shows the need to optimize blended learning by maximizing the benefits of traditional and online education. A technique for using the CDIO approach, further developed for engineering education of the top levels, is proposed for the optimal blended learning design of the Bachelor, Master and PhD programs. The author adduces the concrete examples, which show the possibility of digital transformation of engineering programs with the purpose of their actualization and improving the quality of graduates’ training for complex, innovative and research engineering activity.

Debates over academic writing as a new discipline, or rather trend, started in the jour­nal seven years ago and initially involved academics from different fields. However, when the focus shifted towards teaching writing in English, the discussion narrowed and lost its urge. The analysis of the first papers shows that the importance of developing academic writing skills is understood by the Russian academic community, but most academics have limited awareness of academic writing as a discipline and field of research aimed at solving major problems in education and science. The paper focuses on the theoretical and methodological issues of academic writing and gives a brief overview of how it emerged into a well-developed discipline in Western, mostly US, universities. To achieve the goal of introducing academic writing into the higher education, Russian academics need to collaborate and get involved into multilateral action and interdisciplinary research. The paper concludes that disciplinary divides can be overcome through developing theoretical and conceptual issues of academic writing as rhetoric and composition studies.

Lexical errors in students’ English writing may be caused by lexical interference, mul­tiple meaning and synonymy of Russian and English words. Russian students studying English as a foreign language often have little notion of the English or Russian word connotation and cannot analyze the word meaning; consequently they make a lot of lexical errors in translating their ideas into English. Typical students’ errors and mistakes include usage of a direct word meaning instead of a figurative one, transfer of the given word collocation into all possible collocations of this word, errors in selecting the contextual meaning of a multiple meaning word. We use some methods in teaching students to analyze the contextual meaning of the word and to find the English word for adequate translation: explanation of some problematic situations, cross-lingual matching and trans­lation comparison. As a result students gain metacognitive skills to classify the obtained information and to organize it into linked structures, to analyze the contextual word meaning, to overcome vo­cabulary disparity and word sense disambiguation.

The article deals with the analysis of academic writing from the viewpoint of activity- oriented and competency-based approaches in present-day linguistic didactics, and with regard to the peculiarity of strategic behaviour concerning mental and speech activity. The author looks at academic writing as a complex type of activity, on the one hand, and the product of this activity, on the other hand. One of the examples of academic writing is a scientific article which is under consideration in the paper. The author describes the principles of working out a competency-based model of a scientific article primarily intended for the teacher and uses it as the basis for working out a step-by-step instruction for writing an article mainly aimed at the student. The model and the instruction can serve as a tool for organizing purposeful training in higher educational institutions and for implementing self-controlled academic activity.

The article presents the analysis of Orenburg State University multifunctional activity in the context of solving tasks of socio-economic and technological development of the region. Strategic tasks of University’s activities in the regional context include the development of the territory, enhancing the quality of life, development of the advanced technologies, both technical and social, development of human resources. Educational and research activities of the University provide personnel and technological support of the priority areas of Orenburg region development. key aspects of personnel and innovation-technological support of the Orenburg region development trends are indicated, such as machine building, construction, biotechnology, IT, nanotechnology, power saving, tourism. The issues of education, science and industry integration as well as international cooperation development are highlighted. The article dwells on the realization of the “university’s third mission”, its societal duties and contribution to the development of the region.

The article is focused on the problem of educational programs modernization on the basis of principles of project-oriented training and students’ involvement in solving scientific-research and industrial-technological tasks relevant for the region. Special attention is paid to the multilevel career guidance work at Oreburg State University (special projects such as pre-university education centre “Applicant”, University Computer School, University physics and maths school, “University Saturdays”). The task of creating a complex of educational and intellectual products that ensure high competitiveness of university graduates is considered. For this purpose, the University reali- zes two educational projects: “School of leadership” and “Going to study at OSU”. These projects implement project-oriented training, involve employers in educational process. As a result, students present their own business projects with financial support. Special course of technological entrepreneurship is aimed at development of business thinking, business planning, management skills, key competences to start a business or to conduct innovation projects at companies. Modernization of educational practices gives considerable topical relevance to the question of young teachers and researchers retention at the University, their integration in academic community.

In the context of continuing educational modernization, the paper identifies the areas of productive interaction between subjects of general, complementary and professional education in the expanding space of university cluster. The authors show the system-forming role of a modern university in the formation and development of the information environment of educational integration. The paper also presents a long-term experience of the Association “Orenburg University (Academic) District”, which is an assignee of the Orenburg Educational District, – on the development and implementation of innovative forms and methods of regional educational cooperation, the realization of the educational potential of networking in the pedagogical support of gifted children, the information development of students’ personality, the promotion of teachers’ professional development, the formation of schoolchildren’s and students’ research culture.

The paper highlights the changes in the requirements for training of engineering personnel in connection with the rapid development of new machine-building technologies. Along with traditional engineering knowledge and skills, this training should provide the development of students’ competencies in the field of computer technology for design automation, production preparation. It is noted that the rich practical experience of engineers and teachers of the older generation in new conditions becomes obsolete; they can hardly acquire the rapidly changing computer systems of scientific research of subject areas, new technologies, such as 3D graphics and engineering analysis of structures, the system digitalization of production technologies as a whole. To train specialists of a new generation, technical universities should provide: modern educational and laboratory facilities including various computer and controller systems; applicants who have sufficient basic background and technical aptitude; high-skilled teaching staff specialized in modern computer technology willing to upgrade their teaching skills and personal qualifications. The paper dwells on the state support measures for universities to improve personnel training for high-tech industries, which include as a priority the system of personnel training for the military-industrial complex. The authors present an accumulated experience of the Aerospace Institute of the Orenburg State University in the area of stage-by-stage construction of modern educational and laboratory facilities, the formation of student contingent, retraining and raising qualification of the teaching staff, interaction with employers and partners.

The article addresses the problem of epistemological basis of pedagogy and its research methods. This is particularly relevant in the light of the formation of theoretical framework in peda­gogy. The following topical themes are discussed in the article: a) inductive, hypothetico-deductive and abductive reasoning in pedagogy, b) causal explanations of pedagogical phenomena, c) argu­mentation of pedagogical conclusions and consequences, including empirical, theoretical and con­textual types of argumentation. The authors briefly touch upon the logical interpretation of “norm” and “evaluation” in pedagogy. The problems related to pedagogical theory constructing are identi­fied including incompleteness of abductive model, insufficient evidence of all types of pedagogical argumentation and causal interpretation, and lack of clarity of the category “measure”.

This text is an attempt to develop a non-anthropocentric pedagogy of things, under which a thesis is put up on the necessity of thinking over the education implied by the anthropocen­tric way of thinking about what is social. By the means of references to posthumanism, social studies on science and technology and, in particular, to the theory of an actor-network, a way of thinking about the educational ontology was proposed, allowing to appreciate the relativity, complexity and hybridity of actors inscribed in the most basic level of (not only) educational existence.

The article deals with the description and analysis of the teaching experience of enhanc-
ing students’ cognitive activity through intellectual games-competitions (games in pairs, teamwork) in the framework of Humanities “Russian language and speech culture” and “Rhetoric” at technical University. Special attention is paid to the description of the technology of games, pedagogical nuances that must be considered by a teacher to achieve maximum results of educational and gaming activities. On the basis of the described experience, conclusions are drawn about the rich possibilities of using games-competitions in the educational process of higher school. Properly organized game allows to create a favorable for learning emotional background and establish psychological contact between all participants of communication. In the game situation, the emotional and intellectual forces of students are mobilized. The group work develops communication and teamwork skills and the ability to achieve mutual understanding, to get the value of each member of the group. An important advantage of the game forms is that they can be used at all stages of training: from the introduction of new material to the control of acquired knowledge and skills. The emotions experienced during the game by students, increase responsibility for the result, contribute to better learning of educational material, which is confirmed by the control tests.