The paper presents the concept, structure and features ofITMOUniversity’s independently established educational standard of a new generation. The standard has been developed on the basis of Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education 3++, professional and international standards of engineering education, foresight forecasts of world scientific and technological development. The harmonious intellectual, cultural and moral development, as well as the formation of a professionally competitive personality is ensured by the implementation in the educational programs of the ITMO Code. TheITMOUniversityhas created mechanisms for the formation of actual requirements for the preparation of competitive professionals demanded at an international level. The authors propose the design and implementation system of the educational programs based on integration of the fundamental classical technical education, enhanced development of the universal, common and professional competencies, and extended implementation of the modern theoretical and applied practice-oriented researches, which are supported an active participation of industrial companies and research organizations in educational activities. An interdisciplinary content of educational programs together with orientation to individualization of education and introduction of advanced educational technologies including design, digital, network etc. provides a stable technology platform to achieve the standard requirements for learning outcomes.

A review of the literature on university faculty advanced training for research and teaching activities is presented. Based on the analysis of the experience of Russian and foreign universities, the principles for developing a modern faculty advanced training system at the university are set out responding to the challenges associated with the ongoing and expected changes in the content and technology of student training, primarily in the field of STEM. It is proposed to use the CDIO ++ approach for advanced training of faculty of various categories (professor, associate professor, assistant) to research and teaching activities in the conditions of division of labor when creating and implementing educational products at various stages of their life cycle. The distribution of academic staff potential is shown and an assessment of the resources of a program for faculty advanced training is given on the basis of the CDIO ++ approach for a hypothetical university with a given structure and established priorities for faculty members of various categories.

The analysis of higher education (HE) inRussiafocuses on the complicated issues of the relationships between higher education institutions (HEIs) and provincial cities. The authors characterize different typologies of Russian HEIs and cities. It is suggested to distinguish between the HEIs related to the core of HE, semi-periphery, and to the periphery. The situation of peripheral HEIs that are located mainly in provincial cities seems to be the most complicated. Recently, about 300 HEIs and more than 800 branches of universities, a significant part of which belongs to the peripheral group, ceased to exist autonomously. Today the fate of some other provincial HEIs is yet to be defined. Meanwhile, the future of the young people is also tied to the HEIs’s destiny as well as the future of the cities’ population, where they are located. The analysis of the materials based on the authors’ empirical research conducted in the Ural Federal District (UFD) revealed that the elimination of autonomous universities, their transformation into branches and weakening in such a way of the HE in the medium, big and even large cities of the Russian province lead to stagnation and depression of these cities. One of the main factors of this situation is the mass educational migration of young people. The study discusses certain ideas for positive solution of these problems regarding the relationship of provincial Russian universities and cities, which could lead to their preservation and development.

The article discusses the system for developing and assessing teaching competencies of PhD program graduates. The experience of Russian universities in conducting the final state examination in postgraduate schools is considered. The authors analyze the options for the distribution of the competencies being assessed between the two parts of the final state certification of postgraduate students: the state examination and the defense of their research report. The system developed and implemented at Lobachevsky University for postgraduate students’ step-by-step training for a teaching career at a higher education institution is discussed in detail, including: 1) theoretical training in the framework of the discipline “Psychology and Pedagogy of Higher Education”, 2) teaching practice, 3) preparation of a study manual based on the results of the postgraduate student’s dissertation research, and its defense at the final state examination. Assessments of the practice-oriented format of the state examination by postgraduate students are presented.

InRussia, the preference of the educational policy for market paths has been being formed for nearly thirty years. The mechanisms, consequences and prospects of so called marketization have not been yet studied. The article considers the marketization of education, including higher education, as a scientific and social problem. Basing on foreign and domestic sources, the author proves that the marketization of education is generated by neo-liberal attitude of the financial and economic elites seeking to reduce state budget expenditures in the social sphere and keep up the disintegration of society and to secure their future domination. The state, the bureaucratic apparatus of the education system, educators’ and researchers’ communities do not take up the problem of education marketization and its consequences. The marketization strategy along with its derivatives is taken in society as an axiom, without special studies and research. Due to this education is being dysfunctional, it experiences a protracted institutional crisis, social tensions and losses, whilst the search of ways out of the neoliberal deadlock is postponed up to uncertain future.

The article discusses the pedagogical understanding of the concept of profession as extremely important for the pedagogical community in the conditions of the modern state of education. The authors believe that the current situation in pedagogy is characterized by the confusion of the concepts profession, specialty, qualification, position, imprecise identification of subjects of education (teacher, educator, tutor, pedagogical worker, etc.), which makes it difficult to develop professional and educational standards, ensure their continuity, define labor actions and competencies clearly. For this reason, it would seem, a private matter acquires social, theoretical and practical significance. The logic and content of the article determine the authors’ position in the consideration of the stated topic – they believe that analyzing the specifics of the teaching profession and related concepts requires taking into account the achievements and recommendations of sociology and psychology of professions, studying the possibilities of the pedagogical professiology. Consideration of the problem only from within the pedagogy itself limits the possibilities of disciplinary analysis, the activity of scientific reflection, the creation of holistic ideas on the teaching profession as a significant humanitarian activity in society, which initially carries humanitarianism as a leading quality. The authors critically consider the Professional standard of a teacher, in which they find contradictory positions, and come to a conclusion about the need for the clear scientific and pedagogical understanding of the concepts of profession, professionalism, professional, specialty, qualification, activity, labor functions, competencies.

The article addresses the problem of combining the emerging country’s new regulatory framework in the field of qualifications, based on professional standards, with the international standards of the Association “WorldSkills International” and corporate standards used in the development and evaluation of personnel, based on the competence approach. The authors focus on the proposals to overcome the differences in the conceptual apparatus relating to a term “qualification”, which is interpreted differently in academic and business communities. The article discusses the possibilities of fixing the qualifications of employees directly in the professional standards that determine the requirements for them. Today there are three approaches that are applied to unite and standardize qualification requirements. The issue is to harmonize them in order to create the national qualification system where the key terms – “expertise”, “competency” and “qualification” are properly aligned.

The demand of Industry 4.0 for creative researchers able to adopt to the changing world and think out of the box puts forward the question of education technologies used to prepare such specialists. Though many new education technologies have appeared recently their effectiveness has not yet been proved to be introduced into tertiary education in a large scale. The author presents the evidence for the flipped classroom technology effectiveness. The paper describes the rationale and content of the doctoral program course “English for Research Purposes” delivered using flipped classroom approach. The course was piloted in September-May, 2017/2018 academic year with 197 doctoral students participating. Both quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the flipped classroom was made. Direct education outcomes (students’ scores at the end of the course and attendance rates) and indirect education outcomes (students’ attitudes, perceptions, and feelings towards the course; students’ empowerment and development in the course) were measured using analysis of variance with repeated measures and Likert Scale surveys. The results showed that a general increase in students’ ratings of the effectiveness of the flipped classroom elements was observed during the course, the students’ scores increased 11,3% in comparison with the results of the 2016/2017 academic year where a traditional approach was used. The results of the research can be used to modernize the education process of doctoral students’ training based on flipped classroom technology both at the universities ofRussian Federationand at foreign universities.

Currently, the universities in the Russian Federation are engaged in the updating of the educational programs being implemented, in accordance with the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard 3 ++. The article provides information on the conceptual changes in the State Educational Standard, Federal State Educational Standard, and Federal State Educational Standard 3 ++ , as well as on the new opportunities universities have in connection with the introduction of the “two plus” generation standard. By an example of the project “NetworkElectronicUniversityof theRepublicofBashkortostan” the article shows the network interaction on issues of the formation of universal competences. New opportunities for universities during the transition to FSES 3 ++ are considered in the context of globalization conditions. The universities are suggested to be considered not so much as a “talent foundry”, but rather as a presence territory development driver, a space for constant positive changes (4P) due to the comprehensive development of scientific, innovative, socio-cultural activities with concurrent integration into the educational environment. The implementation of such a model within the transition to FSES 3 ++ is proposed to be done by individualizing mass education, building flexible educational trajectories that most meet the needs of the parties involved. At the same time, the so-called soft skills should become an indispensable superstructure for the formation of professional competencies, as without them it is extremely difficult to train specialists able to adapt as quickly as possible to changes in the external environment, and, in conditions of uncertainty of occupational functions in the future, they become more important than hard skills.

The article discusses the role of social disciplines and humanities in new educational programmes of engineering training, updated in connection with the introduction of HE FSES 3++. The notion of “general cultural competencies” is no longer used in the new educational standards although the “universal competencies” of HE FSES 3++ still correlate with the indicators of general human culture. The article considers the possibilities of the development of universal competencies in approximate basic educational programmes taking the project in the educational direction of 03.09.01 “Computer science and computing” as an example. The importance of social disciplines and humanities to form universal competences is noted. These disciplines provide the continuity of the educational process of the younger generation. The article gives a brief summary of the content of the proposed social disciplines and humanities, describes the conditions for its variation, possible forms of learning activities that ensure the development of universal competencies of future engineers.

The paper highlights the experience in the development and implementation of the “Virtual PetroLab” – virtual petrophysical laboratory for mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) in the educational process. The application was created to help the university professors to deliver the course “Oil formation physics”. The program “Virtual PetroLab” simulates functions of various petrophysical equipment in the lab, possesses built-in methodological instructions on performing laboratory works. The mathematical model of the application allows the student to conduct measuring tasks, make, accumulate and correct his own errors. The paper describes the principles of application design and organization of the educational process with its use. Using of mobile devices as a main platform for a virtual laboratory allowed the maximum involvement of the student audience in the educational process, improved the learning quality during workshops, received positive feedback from the students. The conclusions about high efficiency of using the virtual laboratories for mobile devices when teaching technical discipline are drawn.

The article presents the history of formation, current state and prospects of development ofSholom-AleichemPriamurskyStateUniversityas the main guidelines for self-renewal of the regional University. The issues of self-renewal and self-development of the organization are viewed through strategic projects and implementation of a change management model. The development of the territorial entity of theRussian Federationis impossible without the development of an educational cluster on its territory. After 50 years of existence of the Jewish Autonomous Region, it became necessary to develop higher education institutions for training personnel that could meet the internal needs of the socio-economic sphere of the region. The author describes external and internal factors that cause the processes of self-renewal of the education system. New challenges, objective demands of the region should be an integral part of the system of self-development of the regional University. A modern regional University as a self-developing system can and should become not just a “filter” for regional innovations, but also the most important tool for their promotion on the territory. It is able to generate new cohorts of active and qualified specialists, who are integrated into the region, grounded in it and able to create new areas of economic and social activities, new jobs. In this case, it is already a two-way process. Despite its dynamics of development,Sholom-AleichemPrimurskyStateUniversityremains a regional university whose strategic goal is to be an educational, research, innovation and cultural regional centre. It focuses on training highly qualified personnel and consolidating intellectual resources that can improve the quality of life, preserve and develop the culture of the Jewish Autonomous Region andRussiaas a whole in the Far Eastern region.

The solution of environmental problems, both on global and regional level, is possible only when a new type of ecological culture is formed and ecologization of education is provided. The complicated ecological situation in the world and the low level of environmental awareness of the population necessitate constant improvement of environmental education and enlightenment. The article focuses on these problems and describes the system of environmental education created inSholom-AleichemPriamurskyStateUniversity, which is implemented through different types of teachers’ and students’ activities. The University trains bachelors, masters and postgraduates in the field of ecology and environmental management. In-depth study of environmental problems contributes to the organization of research activities of students. The results of students’ and teachers’ scientific research are tested at scientific conferences, environmental forums at different levels. Special importance in the system of environmental education of the University is given to working with applicants. In this regard University is implementing a series of new modern projects. The Department of geography, ecology and environmental law conducts a scientific ecological and geological circle for students of 8-11 grades in Birobidzhan. Teachers of the Department have published teaching aids, textbooks, educational guides to help school teachers of geography, biology, chemistry in greening the natural cycle subjects. The University has established the Center for environmental education providing the development of ecological culture and moral guidelines in environmental sphere. The paper makes special emphasis on the students’ extracurricular activities and environmental protection work.

The subjectivity of a university student in educational activities is considered as a significant factor of the compliance between the existing state of the university educational system and the requirements placed on it. The article focuses on the imbalance of information support of educational activities, the lack of personal characteristics of students in this provision. First of all, this refers to the indicators of students’ development processes, their value systems, and the choice of activity strategies. A review of the results of empirical studies that characterize students in the current educational situation is carried out. As part of a study aimed at identifying students’ individual academic strategies, a technique has been proposed to define the value-semantic determination of student activity. This method enables determining the student’s value preferences in the space of possible components of his activity. The student performs pair comparisons of the various components of his activity and in each pair chooses the component that is more important for him. According to the results of comparisons, a hierarchy for each student is determined which reflects his value preferences in the space of possible activity. The analysis of such hierarchies indicates that only 27,6% of students characterize the dominance of the processes of formation of their subjectivity. At the same time, 52,6% of students show incomplete personal subjectivity. And 19,8% of students in their activities are guided by the existing situation and external stimulation. The analysis of the general hierarchy reflecting the value preferences of the considered sample of students in the space of possible activities was performed.

One of the main structural units of the University is the Department. Its quality largely determines the image of the institution of higher education, its attractiveness for potential students. Special importance is given to the profiling, graduating Department, organizing research work and practical training of students. In this regard, this article summarizes the five-year experience of one of the departments of the regional University in the aspect of optimization and meeting the social demands to education. The leading method of research is a systematic analysis of the main activities of the Department of correctional pedagogy, psychology and speech therapy, staffed by highly qualified specialists. The article presents the most significant achievements of this Department, which justify its impact on the sphere of educational needs of society. Throughout the considered time period, the Department of correctional pedagogy, psychologists and speech therapy conducted training and retraining of psychological and pedagogical personnel soughed after in the Jewish Autonomous region for the system of special and inclusive education for persons with disabilities. At the same time the Department carried out an effective scientific and practical interaction with the pedagogical community of the region. The materials and results of the presented study were experimentally tested, implemented in the educational process and repeatedly discussed at the meetings of the Department, as well as during scientific seminars and conferences. The gained experience can be useful for managers and scholars of the departments.

In modern society, there is much concern about training highly qualified specialists in the field of social work. Both higher education institutions that provide this training and the professional community are interested in it. The effectiveness of the social institution activity depends on how the personnel is prepared, what competencies and the level of professionalism it possesses. Equal partnership between educational and professional communities will enable university to respond quickly to changes in the economy and the needs of the market, to train unique specialists according to professional standards. The article highlights the cooperation experience of the Department of Service, Advertising and Social Work of Sholom-Aleichem Priamursky State University with the professional community of social workers. The authors present forms and methods of the organization of social partnership as a necessary condition for training future social workers and experts in social work. Different methods of training highly qualified personnel are also shown. The authors have identified the main trajectories of interaction between the University and the professional community of social workers which are determined by the content of educational standards. They include the formation of the educational programme, the involvement of social workers in the educational process, the provision of employment, postgraduate training of personnel. The article pays special attention to the problems of profiling educational programs at universities in small regions. The authors believe that the narrow definition of educational program specialization is connected with the potential lack of demand for personnel while a shortage in specialists is maintained. The authors consider volunteering as an additional resource for the development of professional competencies in the field of social work and a channel for effective interaction between the University and the professional community.