In the context of the transformation of education, characterized by the rapid obsolescence of knowledge, the increasing role of technological and social innovations, the globalization of the economy and education, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure successful cooperation between universities and business. At the same time, the state gains an advantage due to the rapid transfer of new knowledge, research and innovation, enterprises and organizations increase opportunities for effective development.

The aim of the study is to identify the most successful forms of interaction between educational organizations and enterprises, the mechanisms of influence of the University on the development of the region of its location, participation in socio-economic processes. The problem is considered through the prism of the concept of the “third mission” for universities, which involves active interaction of educational organizations with society, including employers. Besides, the authors use the provisions of the theory of stakeholders, which describes the parameters taking into account the interests of various actors in the process of University management.

On the example of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, the article analyzes the existing experience and successful practices of organizing such interaction, as well as the emerging problems. The information base of the study was a survey on the satisfaction of employers with the quality of University graduates’ training, conducted in SAFU in 2019.

As findings, the article states the main systemic problems of interaction between universities and the sphere of production such as the lack of coordinated strategies for training in various specialties, discrepancies in understanding the sets of competencies and skills of graduates, the fragmented university-industry interaction in research and development areas, different motivations and values.

The authors come to a conclusion that the University must undergo a path of transformation to ensure strategic interaction with business and industry, including the development of a common “entrepreneurial” culture in the team, as well as the expansion of interaction with public institutions and socio-economic actors in the framework of the “third mission”.

The purpose of the work is an analysis of the current state of the universities of the North Caucasus Federal District from the point of view of creating competitive regional development centers, bearing in mind the Spatial Development Strategy of Russia.

The research methodology is based on empirical research methods (observation, comparison, data collection and study), current and prospective analysis and synthesis of theoretical and practical material, multivariate systems analysis, sociology, statistical analysis, etc.

Results. In the course of the study, features of the development of the NCFD universities were revealed, various aspects of their activities were analyzed. Detailed mapping of the development of the NCFD universities has been made on a wide range of parameters and indicators. The authors note the lack of intelligible parameters used in the formation of the target admission levels in the universities of the North Caucasus Federal District, the weak connection of these figures with the real economy. The absence of status universities in the North Caucasus Federal District, in particular a flagship university, contributes to the outflow of talented students to central Russian and foreign universities.

Application area. The results of this work can be applied in the activities of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in developing the new university model – “HEIs, providing personnel for basic branches of regional economy” and in planning the target admission levels of universities, setting goals for universities in the region in terms of synchronization their development programs with administrations for the implementation of national projects, programs for the socioeconomic development of the North Caucasus Federal District.

Findings. The peculiarities of the socio-political and economic development of the NCFD indicate the difficulties in planning the training of highly skilled specialists for the region. Despite the fact that the “full range” of educational institutions in the North Caucasus Federal District is economically disadvantageous in the short term, the opportunity for young people to receive higher education in their region can be viewed as one of the few really effective channels of self-realization and socialization for a significant part of North Caucasian youth. Insufficient funding, weak involvement of universities in solving the problems of sustainable development of the region do not contribute to the creation and development of universities which can be the real drivers of sustainable and innovative development of the North Caucasus Federal District and competitive scientific and educational centers.

The article sets and characterizes the social diagnosis of a significant part of pupils and students, which is defined by the authors as educational failure. It manifests itself in a low level of educational motivation, blurred professional orientations and self-determination, and a weak desire to accumulate human capital and social achievement. This diagnosis can be traced all the way through the transfer of human capital of the unsuccessful educational communities – from school to college and university, and then to the labor market. The article identifies the main lacunae and consequent methodological problems in the study of educational failure. The phenomenon of educational failure is considered in terms of four stages of emergence and development. The features of an interdisciplinary methodology of its research are shown. The authors reveal the potential of the interdisciplinary use of sociological, economic, psychological, socio-psychological, and pedagogical approaches in the study of educational failure and ways to overcome it.

Improving the quality of educational services is impossible without a detailed analysis of student satisfaction. Identifying weaknesses in the educational process and socio-cultural environment, as well as evaluating the dynamics of satisfaction in recent years will help to formulate a roadmap for managing the quality of education. The research was conducted at Perm Polytechnic University which is typical, therefore the findings of the research can be considered as representative.

The article analyzes the results of a survey of 1126 full-time students, which was about 12% of the contingent (full-time). The sample is presented for all structural divisions: faculties and branches, as well as the content of questionnaires on blocks of questions. The results of the level of satisfaction with the quality of educational activities are analyzed, in particular: the content of educational programs, the implementation of educational programs, the conditions for ensuring the educational process, the quality of teaching, knowledge control and training. Positive assessment (satisfaction is more than 50%) deserve: the organization and conditions of the educational process, the content of academic disciplines in all cycles, the quality of teaching, the volume and quality of the library fund. However, some comments revealed dissatisfaction with the technical means, the quality of the content audiences, the organization of pedagogic assistance and students’ self-directed learning, schedule of classes, quality of teaching materials, organization of traineeships, quality control test, availability of laboratories and computer classes outside the classroom.

The assessment of the socio-cultural environment considered aspects of the organization of students’ extracurricular work, the socio-psychological climate; the conditions of life support of the educational process (sanitary and social); socio-cultural activities related to the satisfaction of spiritual and physical needs of an individual; socio-cultural fostering. The main comments are related to the quality of social and living conditions (catering, living conditions in a hostel).

The results of the survey showed the need for further research in order to form a generalized (complex) model for assessing the quality of the University activities.

The digital transformation has affected all economically developed countries in the world including Russia. The issues of transition to the digital economy are considered at the highest level: the decrees of the President of the Russian Federation created national and federal projects, including in the higher education system. But the transition to the digital environment is rather slow. The article presents an assessment of the current state and trends in the development of the domestic system of higher education, identifies the problems of transition of Russian universities to the digital educational environment. The purpose of the article is to generalize and systematize the existing developments and create a methodology for assessing the degree of universities willingness for digitalization. The authors have systematized and expanded the list of factors for assessing the willingness of universities for digital transformation. The main research methods are: expert assessment method, morphological analysis, cluster analysis. The matrix of factors and their features formed the basis for ranking indicators and forming clusters. The method proposed by the authors is universal, it has been tested at one of the Russian universities – NSTU NETI and can be applied by any institution of higher education to assess the willingness of the University for digitalization.

The paper discusses some interdisciplinary, contextual, and linguistic aspects of developing language skills essential to writing scientific papers. The suggested strategy provides a theoretical foundation for designing an integrated teaching strategy that incorporates three basic components: teaching writing skills and subskills in a foreign language, using an online teaching platform, and the universality of the scientific language that underlies scientists’ professional communication all over the world. The paper identifies gaps in teaching writing skills in a foreign language, reveals typical mistakes, and proposes a way of their overcoming through introducing the integrative teaching strategy into the education process. The paper also focuses on some ways of implementing the strategy relative to the integration of traditional and online teaching of master students through their investigating specialist discourse elements, identifying formulaic expressions and grammar patterns with a view to using them in their profession-related discourse, learning to rely on those findings in producing a coherent text, and thus, developing their capacity to write clearly and effectively.

Working on projects in co-authorship rather than individually is becoming an increasingly attractive option for many members of the Russian academic community. The reasons lie in the fact that collaboration allows reducing administrative, financial, and temporal expenses. For instance, the recent events concerning the coronavirus require prompt and effective methods of exchanging data to publish works on medicine and microbiology, without arousing any disputes of an organizational or legal kind. Embracing a broad area of linguistic and cultural knowledge, academic writing can also intend to develop people’s awareness of such problems as models of co-authorship, horizontal and vertical types of academic co-operation, functions assigned to members of collaborative groups at different stages of writing and publishing a text, whole ownership and that of individual contributions. The ambiguous interpretation of the concept ‘creative contribution’ provided by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation often impedes cooperation among co-authors, which demonstrates the need to consider legal and organizational points concerning co-publications in academic writing courses, the goal being to prevent future co-authors from potential conflicts and assisting them in managing their work efficiently.

The article addresses the issue of integrating forms of educational material in flipped learning of the university students. Research ideas concur (and possibly develop) the thesis of conceptual changes in flipped learning stated in an article by I.I. Gnutova “From Flipped Classroom to Flipped Learning: Evolution of the Concept and Its Philosophical Foundations” (Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii. Vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 86-95). The model of the flipped learning of the discipline involves the presentation of its content in four blocks, where the objectives and teaching methods are different. In order to ensure the establishment of associative links in the organization of mastering the content of these blocks, it is necessary to integrate the forms of educational material that are used in them. The main result of the study are: an effective way to integrate educational material in an flipped learning is the selection or creation of its forms, organizing the educational activities of students based on the logical analysis of the text in the textbook as the main means of learning. As a result, there is a new educational text as an original remix of the text from the textbook, which constitutes a multimedia learning environment for a specific topic.

The concept of “Sociocultural competence” is introduced in relation to the professional training of a graduate of a modern university (bachelor), the relevance of such an extension of the conceptual apparatus of pedagogy and practice in the context of contemporary sociocultural trends is substantiated. The problem of universal significance of sociocultural competence, its relevance for all areas of training of a modern specialist is determined. Sociocultural competence is seen as an integrative, over-professional, personality trait that ensures the success of professional activities in an intercultural and international environment in conditions of the globalizing world. “Sociocultural competence” is interpreted by the author as a broader concept than professional competence which cannot be reduced to linguistic competence formed in the process of students’ language preparation for intercultural communication. The objectives of the article are: to identify the structural components of the sociocultural competence of a specialist, to study the level of its development among first-year students (using the example of a university of international profile). An analysis of the structure of sociocultural competence is carried out taking into account the philosophical and psychological aspects of the concept of sociocultural modernization of education. The level of development of sociocultural competence of students is determined using a questionnaire specially developed by the author. The article substantiates the propriety of considering sociocultural competence as an indicator of the quality of professional training of a graduate.

The article by the rector of the Kazan Innovation University named after V.G. Timiryasov (KIU) shows the development path of one of the strongest non-governmental universities in the Volga region, recognized as a university that makes a great contribution to the development of the region and the country. This academic year, KIU celebrated its 25th anniversary. The demand for a university among the population is evidenced by the fact that, according to the ranking of the demand for universities in the Russian Federation, published by the Social Navigator project of MIA Russia Today, the university takes the 15th place in the group “Universities of management area” (Economics, Finance, Law). The share of graduates of KGU named after V.G. Timiryasov who received a job placement is 88,9%. The share of funds from the commercialization of intellectual products is 10,9%. Also, the ranking shows a high citation index of the works of faculty. The development of the university is comparable to the development of the largest universities in the world, which, by training personnel in popular specialties, provide the future for the country.

The author of the article raises a topical question: “How will digitalization turn the humanity – towards civilization or collapse?” With a reliance on the “The Human quality” by Aurelio Peccei, a new project was justified aimed at preserving a person and educating a healthy personality. The project implementation requires at least 16–18 years. The successive system for the development of an “ecological person” focuses on the prevention of hereditary impairement and consists of six stages and is reinforced by already existing experience of several centers and institutions where innovative approaches to the development of a healthy personality are tested, starting from the embryonic period until adulthood.

The article addresses the problems of inclusive education development through the prism of ethnocultural factors. A small comparative analysis of inclusive education development is given: legislative and law basis, cultural traditions in Russia and Kyrgyzstan, language and customs. The ethnocultural factor of inclusive education development is expressed through the language of “study” at schools and professional educational organizations. The author emphasizes the signs of our time – language assimilation in the countries of the former Soviet Union. It is shown that many parents in the north of Kyrgyzstan send their children, including children with disabilities, to study at Russian schools, and it causes additional barriers in learning, along with the barriers caused by physical and intellectual disabilities.

The article shows the potential of a social project in the formation of leadership qualities in students. The essence of a social project is revealed, the stages of its implementation are shown. The author focuses on the concept of leadership, considers the key qualities of a leader. One of the demanded qualities of a leader in modern life is his active life position, which is expressed in the conscious realization of his social roles. Social project facilitates the development of such activity. We used social project as a technology for the development of leadership qualities in students. To that end, we have conducted a survey among the students of the faculty of service, tourism, and technology of public catering (N=69) with the aim to reveal the leadership skills. The results of testing showed insufficient development of these skills. We have assumed that the participation of students in the development and realization of the social project would foster more intensive development of leadership qualities. The realization of the social project “Supporting of persons with impaired mobility in city infrastructure” under the guidance of teachers and experts has justified the efficiency of the implemented technology. Upon the project completion the students demonstrated better results in four positions.

The article discusses peculiarities of the customized approach, which takes into account the requirements of specific employers to the process and content of specialists’ training. Since the final consumer of the educational service provided by tertiary educational organization is the employer who hired the graduate, it is necessary to focus on the specifics of a particular organization activity when training specialists. Customized training is based on the collaboration of the University and the partner organization-employer, which consists in coordinating and adjusting educational programs within the existing standards to form professionally significant skills of graduates demanded by the employer, and involves further employment of the graduate in this organization. In this case, the specified organization acts as an investor or co-investor in the training of a future specialist. The employer’s participation in the educational process includes cooperation with the university not only in development of curricula and work programs of disciplines, but also in organization of seminars, conferences, in providing platforms and equipment for students to have their practice and to do their projects in real production conditions while solving actual professional problems. Customized training is one of the mechanisms to solve the problem of overabundance of specialists in some industries and a shortage of highly qualified personnel in others.

The article proposes recommendations on the development of collaborative industrial doctoral education in Russian conditions considering international experience and provides a justification for the Russian high-tech companies’ demand for the competences of graduates of the collaborative doctoral programs. The regression analysis of patent and innovation activity indicators of Russian high-tech companies on the share of employed with academic degrees showed that successful graduates of Russian doctoral schools with specialization in technical sciences have an option to apply their research competences in the real sector of the economy. This determines the need to develop and put into practice specialized doctoral programs aimed at training scientific and engineering personnel for high-tech companies in the form of collaboration with industrial partners. Such programs can be implemented using the industrial PhD model, which is based on a research project in the interests of the employer with dual scientific supervision and funding of the study at the expense of the employer. Collaborative industrial doctoral programs require a longer training duration than traditional academic doctoral programs, as well as a reduced classroom load, especially concerning pedagogical and general disciplines. Grants, tax credits and preferential treatment for procurement by large state-owned companies can be used to encourage Russian high-tech companies with high research and development costs to become industrial partners of doctoral schools.