The article presents the results of a comparative and typological analysis of open data websites of the leading Russian and foreign universities. The analysis has been carried out in order to assess the state of the digital environment of universities in the areas of career guidance of students, the development of students’ competencies and career support of graduates. The authors adduce an empirical evidence of the key problems of digitalization of Russian universities such as the lack of interactive innovative forms of online support of applicants by Russian universities; the lack of digital footprints of the educational process, especially video lessons; depersonalization of digital support of training; non-competitive descriptions of elective courses, the lack of educational case studies as a main technology for the implementation of practice-oriented tasks; the underdevelopment of interaction as a basic principle for providing online support of the educational process. As the prospects of the study, the article makes the case for constructing a model ranking universities according to the level of digital space development. 

The article provides a brief review of the literature related to the analysis of approachesto assessing the effectiveness of the universities of the country. The authors propose to consider the universities as key performers of strategic decisions at various hierarchical levels. Each of the strategic planning documents includes indicator systems and their target values in dynamics over the years. Monitoring of these indicators allows us to determine the effectiveness of the implementation of the strategic planning documents as a whole. The methodology given in the article for assessing effectiveness of the universities is directly or indirectly related to target indicators laid down in the strategic planning documents. This enables to evaluate the contribution of the universities to the development of socio-economic systems at various levels: industries, regions and the country as a whole. As an example, the approach to the development of the system of indicators is considered, which makes it possible to evaluate the contribution of the universities to the implementation of national projects. In the initial (pilot) version the system included 30 indicators directly related to national projects “Education”, “Science”, “Digital Economics” and a number of others. The article presents the results of testing of the developed methodology and the system of indicators at a number of the flagship universities of the Volga Federal District.

High-skilled human resources constitute the basis of the Far Eastern regions’ economy declared to be a national priority for the current century. The article discusses both graduates’ employability indicators of the Far Eastern universities and post-education migration indicators within the Far Eastern Federal District and between other Russian regions. It is shown that despite negative migration indicators the Far Eastern regions are attractive for young university-trained professionals. A quantitative assessment of the Far Eastern educational institutions was performed based both on a comparative analysis of annual additional recruitment needs indicators in university-trained human resources as well as of university graduates’ numbers employed in the Far East. It was revealed that annual shortage of university-trained human resources for the Far East amounts to 13,000 taking into account both graduates’ employability and migration flows. Balance tables development such as “recruitment need – output” in terms of aggregated major groups/ fields of study contributed to carry out a qualitative analysis of the economy needs’ provision for university graduates in the Far Eastern regions. Possible ways for the Far Eastern economy balancing in human resources were also identified including an increased volume of training high-skilled human resources up to a state level; promotion of graduates’ migration from “non-Far Eastern” universities to Far Eastern Federal District; employer-sponsored education development in the interests of Far Eastern companies at Russian universities outside the Far Eastern Federal District. The article makes the case for the development of the information system for graduates, which promotes a positive image of Far East District as a geostrategic territory both for youth well-being and professional activities. The graduates should be aware of social, economic, and cultural prospects of the region’s strategic development as a territory of advanced social and economic development, be clear on the advantages in case of their employment in Far Eastern region.

The article considers the results of the Russian universities’ and scientific institutions’ activities on the intellectual property market in Russia and abroad. The authors provide the various statistic data for complete and accurate analysis of the functioning of Russian universities and scientific institution as the subjects of intellectual property. The article examines the current factors influencing the educational and scientific institutions’ activities on the formation and replication of intellectual property, and identifies the scientific and educational institutions’ potential opportunities to develop the international intellectual property market. The analysis of international experience shows that by the beginning of the XXI century, the intellectual property as a commercial product becomes the determining factor in the world leadership. However, Russia has a modest position on this market. The intellectual products which have a considerable potential are not promoted on the market, therefore they do not manage to be competitive. The article makes the case for developing methods and means that will stimulate the creation and promotion of existing and future intellectual products on the market. In conclusion, the article outlines the main areas of work for the development of intellectual property market in the Russian Federation to overcome the monopoly of Western countries and China on the scientific production and high technologies market.

The study is aimed at identifying barriers to the research career of women in the academic environment of a technical university. The authors present the results of their study of the women’s status in the academic community. The study is based on a quantitative (questionnaire survey) and qualitative (biographical interviews) analysis of the opinions of students and teachers of STEM disciplines of a technical university about the features and problems of women’s professional careers. It is established that women of the same university evaluate the presence and degree of influence of barriers to the research careers differently. In some cases, women assessing their professional status note that they do not feel professional discrimination on the basis of gender. In general, the analysis revealed that women who received a STEM education use a strategy of avoiding a research career and choosing alternative career options: either outside the academic environment, or by transitioning to teaching as a way to circumvent gender barriers in grant and publication activities.

Modern justifications of essential interrelation and interdependence between the concepts of “knowledge” and “ignorance” in many ways can contribute to theoretical, methodological, and practical specification of forms and means of pedagogical mediation of the process of personal development of a subject of knowledge. The category of “ignorance” is inextricably linked with getting, “extraction” of a new knowledge in a problem subject sphere in the process of problem analysis and search for solutions.

The purpose of the article is a consideration of conceptual grounds for knowledge formation using the activity potential of the category of “ignorance”. The activity approach became a methodological framework for the study aimed at the improvement of cognitive processes, transformation of knowledge into the potential of person’s self-development within the epistemological space of the educational paradigm.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze pedagogical approaches to the concept of the quality in higher education. The personality of a teacher is considered as a key component of quality assurance. The authors analyze the role of the teacher in modern society and teacher’s professional and personal qualities necessary to increase the effectiveness of the educational process. Particular attention is paid to comprehension of quality from the point of view of the main education process participants – students and teachers. The opinions of Russian and foreign teachers in relation to the ways to improve the quality of higher education and the effectiveness of different educational technologies are presented. Using a multidimensional approach to quality, the authors offer their conception of education quality, elements of quality and quality assurance conditions.

One of the areas of the theory and practice in the modern pedagogy is providing conditions and guarantees in socialization and equal access to education for all members of the society including persons with special educational needs. Persons with special educational needs (SEN) are the subjects of inclusion who have atypical features in their development or living conditions. These atypical features may be the cause of uncomplete realization of the right to education. Online courses may be viewed as a resource of inclusive education since they have great potential for educational process organization and implementation for the learners with special educational needs – subjects of inclusion. The paper discusses the possibility and potential benefits of using online courses for different categories of SEN learners. In particular, online courses can serve as instruments of additional pedagogical support in designing student’s individual educational trajectory as well as instruments of socialization.

The article summarizes the results of the plenary session of the international conference «Engineering education: transformation problems for industry 4.0 SYNERGY-2019», held at the Kazan National Research Technological University from 4 to 5 September 2019. Forum which brought together representatives of universities and industrial enterprises of Russia and abroad, was devoted to the training of engineers of the petrochemical industry. Among its delegates were representatives of international societies for engineering education, five national research universities and nine supporting universities of PC «Gazprom», state authorities and industrial enterprises of Tatarstan. It was possible to observe the work of the plenary session in real time on the Internet in all the supporting universities of Gazprom. The event was organized by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the International Society for Engineering Pedagogy IGIP, the National Fund of Training of Staff (NFTS), the Association of Engineering Education of Russia (AEER) as well as the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan and the Kazan National Research Technological University. The General sponsor was the Public Joint Company «Gazprom». The conference gathered 155 participants from 15 universities of Russia, Kazakhstan and Estonia. Representatives of 11 industrial enterprises spoke, 55 reports made presentations.

The article presents the philosophy and the basics of Engineering Pedagogy Science – the key to science-based, effective, interactive and motivating teaching engineering, shaping the ground of teaching competencies of engineering faculty, ensuring relevantly one of the prerequisites of the quality of engineering education in general. The foundational questions shaping the philosophy of Engineering Pedagogy Science, as an analytical ground for effective course design and further course development, based on informed decisions, are presented in this paper. The didactic pentagram and the basic didactical model of Engineering Pedagogy Science are discussed in this paper. Didactical pentagram of Engineering Pedagogy Science forms the ground of the essential pedagogical competencies of engineering faculty along with the speciality competencies, ensuring effective teaching engineering. The basic didactic model of Engineering Pedagogy Science follows the principles of an iterative process, being an effective tool for the design of a study program, curriculum, syllabus, course, or a lecture with the aim of effective teaching engineering. Integrated quadruple instructional model of Engineering Pedagogy Science as the foundation of integrated course design and one of the preconditions of effective teaching and learning is introduced as the basis of expected teaching competencies of engineering faculty. Pedagogical competences of the faculty are becoming more considerable in the quality assessment of higher education. The most effective ground of pedagogical continuing education of engineering faculty is Engineering Pedagogy Science, which offers suitable and relevant didactic models for insurance of effective teaching and learning and integrated course design based on informed decisions, learning analytics, reflection and metacognition.

The article is devoted to modern trends of engineering pedagogy development that are global due to the processes of globalization and internationalization of higher technical education. The tendencies of engineering pedagogy development as a pedagogical science are connected with the key pedagogy concepts of teaching aims, content, forms, technologies, and aids. The trends of development are determined by the necessity to overcome the contradiction between fast changes in the sphere of engineering activities and certain conservatism, lag effect typical for engineering education system. At present, there are several general trends. Fast changes of modern society require regular analysis of social needs, specification and updating of engineering education aims, which takes place in the conditions of changeability and uncertainty and are more and more based on prediction. New forms of engineers’ training appear in order to overcome the gap between the requirements of engineers’ activities and the results of their education, and they are organized by joint efforts of universities, researchers, industry and business. New technologies of education involving the latest achievements in science, techniques and technologies are being developed and introduced in the educational process. Regular changes in educational process make the engineering education system to some extent unstable and unbalanced, and this trend may be expected to intensify. In order to correspond to the situation and to develop new technical teachers’ competences, various specialized diversified courses are offered to meet specific requirements of particular target groups.

The article focuses on the development of the communicative-rhetorical competence of a future engineer. This competence is considered to be a necessary condition for his development as a qualified specialist and a significant factor in his/her future professional activities. In the XXI century, in modern conditions, engineering and engineering duties should be inseparable from organizational and managerial activities. The solution of production problems and team work with diversified specialists are realized through communicative and rhetorical qualities of an engineer. He/ she should be ready for productive business communication and effective presentation of his/her position, as well as presentation of the results of work. Public speaking skills hence acquire particular importance for engineers along with communication skills. Communicative-rhetorical competence is the ability to carry out a conscious effective speech influence in the process of interpersonal, group and collective public communication, which measure up linguistic and cultural norms, and realizes the goals of communication through the use of various language levels. It is advisable to develop communicative-rhetorical competence of future engineers at the level of university training. The rationale for its effective development is proposed by creating a set of relevant pedagogical conditions: the introduction of an additional discipline “Rhetoric” or the modernization of an existing subject program with a similar focus; using of special educational technologies and methods for the development of communicative-rhetorical competence; advanced training of university teachers; creation by the university of appropriate conditions for active research and social activities of students; cooperation of educational institutions with large enterprises, companies and research centers. The pedagogical conditions should take into account the capabilities of a research university: the integrated nature of the learning process; using modern educational technologies in the process of learning; availability of a developed system of professional retraining and advanced training of teachers and other specialists. The authors worked out the recommendations for the selection and structuring of the material, as well as methods for developing the communicative and rhetorical competence of future engineers in a research university, and also identified problems that need further consideration, including the search for innovative techniques and methods.

August 23, 2019 marks two years from when approval was given to those top scientific and educational organizations that were entitled to grant individual academic degrees and diplomas. Today it is not only Moscow State University and St Petersburg State University but other 23 universities that are involved in the pilot project of implementing the new governmental model of scientific accreditation. MGIMO University was one of the first universities that created and implemented its own model. For the last two years there have been 80 research paper defences in 9 scientific fields. In his interview, Maxim Inozemtsev, Head of Dissertation Council Department, revealed the main features of the model for individually granting academic degrees, as well as the challenges, trends and innovation in the scientific accreditation procedure.