Russia ranks fourth in the international education market in terms of the number of foreign students. The export of Russian education contributes to the growth of external financial re[1]ceipts to the economy, facilitates overcoming the personnel shortage in the labor market and forms a positive image of Russia among the countries importing education. The article presents data on the key countries importing Russian education. The authors described the most popular areas of training and specialties among the foreign students, both for enlarged groups of specialties, and for certain areas of training in the context of training levels (bachelor’s / specialty / master’s). The sources of financing the education of foreign citizens in Russian universi[1]ties were considered, as well as foreign student enrollment for each type of financing. In the course of the analysis of the electronic portals of the authorities in the field of labor and employment, as well as statistical agencies, and professional job search websites, the need for certain specialists in the national labor markets of the key countries-importers of Russian education was revealed. Based on these data, the relevance of the education exported by Russia to the needs of the national labor markets of its importers was analyzed. The study revealed an annual growth of foreign student enrollment under the contracts for the pro[1]vision of fee-based education, which increases the volume of external financial receipts into the Russian economy. It is shown that the current level of education exports in Russia corresponds to the strategic state tasks in this direction, and the need for workers in the labor markets of the key importing coun[1]tries coincides with the most demanded areas of training and specialties among foreign students.

The article focuses on the current state of the balance of interests in the field of organizing research activities in Russian universities. The theoretical framework of the research is the theory of the principal-agent, from the position of which the research management system is considered through the relationship between actors who have different degrees of awareness and potentially actin different interests. The purpose of the study is to compare the problems in the field of organizing funding, digitalization and scientific cooperation, which were the most important for agents, with those strategic decisions that took place at the level of the principal after extensive expert discussions. The following sources were used: 1) the results of the largest expert project implemented at the initiative of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation; 2) the results of a sociological study conducted at the Ural Federal University, where scientists and employees involved in the organization of scientific research were interviewed. A limitation of the study was the difficulty of comparing the results of the qualitative analysis made by the principal and the quantitative assessments given by the agents. In this connection, an emphasis in the interpretation of the results was made not so much on the specific quantitative assessments of the agents as on the comparison of the priorities of the problems expressed by the agents and the solutions generated by the principal. The results of the analysis showed that most of the priority tasks for agents in the field of organizing financing, digitalization, scientific cooperation were reflected in the decisions of the principal. The gaps stem from the lack of solutions aimed at intensifying research work in terms of monitoring the current scientific thematic agenda, and the importance of increasing the weight of this criterion when evaluating scientific projects. There are two ways to reduce the identified gaps: 1) inclusion of the support for the development of aggregators that allow scientists to quickly obtain the most relevant results with growing volumes of data into the list of tasks facing the principal; 2) development of modern analytical information and digital mechanisms for assessing the prospects of topics, which creates conditions for their compliance with the dynamic global research agenda.

Ambivalence of the scientific ethos (R. Merton) today is still a topical issue under the escalation of contradictions between science and society. The autonomy of science, the solidarity of scientists in the face of internal and external challenges are the issues decisions of which are burdened by a number of antinomies such as “profession – vocation”, “individual – collective” and “a priori – a posteriori”. Is it possible to rid the ethics of science, designed to develop and represent moral norms for the scientific community, from this ambivalence? The article offers a sketch of the ethics of science, combining virtue epistemology with some ideas of J. Rawls and W. Pareto. It shows that the ethical assessment is irreparably present in the structure of roles and statuses in the scientific community, and epistemic virtues are intertwined with moral ones. In terms of this, ambivalence is a form of problematization inherent in any ethical discourse. Hence the task of the ethics of science is not to prescribe norms of behavior to a particular agent, but to explicate conditions of moral freedom.

This paper investigates philosophical, cultural and didactic potential of silence in education. The author substantiates that in the world of ever-augmenting speaking, the student’s silence is manifested as a stage, when there is nothing to say for oneself. This is attributable to the monologue nature of education, the main meanings, goals and the content of which is to convey the multicultural experience of mankind to a “monocultural” student. At the same time, there is a huge potential for silence as competence whereby a student generates his new meanings, knowledge, questions. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the didactics of Eastern and Western cultures core parameters as creativity, dialogism, interactivity. The author concludes that despite the sufficiently large number of the silence phenomenon studies in pedagogy, they mainly affect the methodical le[1]vel. In reliance on philosophical, linguistic, psychosocial research, the article originally examines the methodological foundations of the design and implementation of the didactics of silence. Particular attention is paid to the links between silence, “questioning” and heuristics. It is indicated that silence in teaching factors into exponential development and the formation of such future competencies as creativity, communication, and the affective sphere.

The article deals with the problem of formation of social and humanitarian competen[1]cies in Russian engineering education. The author shows how different views on the relationship between man and machine, as well as between society and the technosphere, were translated into various public initiatives and analyzes the impact of these initiatives on the evolution of approaches to engineering education. Special attention is paid to the promotion of the ideology of design think[1]ing and the movement for the humanitarization of engineering education. Both gained a consider[1]able popularity in the last quarter of the twentieth century. However, in modern conditions, the relationship between technological progress and the development of human society is taking on new forms that require new answers. There are also new risks – in particular, the risk of complete de[1]humanization of technological progress and the unclear prospect of the formation of a so-called post-human civilization. Social assessment of technology and the development of value-based tech[1]nologies are possible answers. They have received a very significant support in the United States and Western Europe. In particular, several European conferences on this topic have already been held within the EU (the latest one took place in Bratislava in 2019). However, due to some features of the Russian intellectual tradition, as well as the pronounced techno-optimism of mass consciousness, the Russian academic environment has not yet shown sufficient interest to implant these approaches in technical education. The possibility of managing the current technological progress on the basis of a dialogue with civil society, which is popular in the European Union, is also not considered in Russian intellectual environments. At the same time, the leading technical universities in Russia are gradually developing a network of enthusiasts who are studying the European practice of social assessment of technology and its adaptation to Russian conditions. Such adapted practices may become the con[1]ceptual guidelines for Russian engineering education.

Within the framework of the activities of the Coordinating Council of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in the field of education “Engineering, Technology and Technical Sciences”, proposals have been developed for the implementation of a set of tasks for the development of higher education set by the President of Russia. The necessity of implementing different methodological and normative approaches to different areas of higher education is argued. The authors substantiate the concept of the fourth generation Federal State Educational Standard for the engineering field of education. A new approach to the organization of admission to universities is proposed, which allows students to choose the direction of training after completing the second year of study. An innovative structure of lists of specialties and areas of preparation of higher education is presented, which provides the possibility of implementing the concept of the fourth generation Federal State Educational Standard, as well as greater flexibility and enlargement of the lists.

The authors consider the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a component of the global capitalist ideology. The value disposition of universities in relation to the concept of CSR is analyzed relying on the fundamental motivational matrix (FMM). The fundamental types of motivation are defined according to the anthropological distinction between personality and human nature and the social distinction between reward and punishment. In accordance with the logic of the applicability of different types of motivation, the fundamental contradiction between the value basis of the capitalist economy and the main scientific and educational activities of universities is determined. The attitude of voluntary responsibility characteristic of CSR is defined as internally contradictory, but unavoidable within the system of declared values of the capitalist economy. It is shown that the peripheral position of labor in this system of values is not accidental, that labor and investment success are opposed, and that it is irrevocable.

Value orientations of young people are an issue that does not lose relevance in the agenda of  social and humanitarian  sciences and youth policy. Students are the driving  force of youth. Having  activity  and  reactivity,  as well  as  a  certain  intellectual background, namely  students  can stimulate social transformations. The University, as an agent of socialization, carries out not only educational activities, but also pedagogical and socializing work, that is why it is able to influence on the development of values and characteristics of students. The article is an analytical review of the data of a unique monitoring conducted since 2015 at the RUDN University in order to assess the effectiveness of pedagogical work at the University. In 2015 and 2019, 60% of 1st-year and 4th-year (graduate) students were surveyed using online questionnaires, respectively, which represents a quasi-panel. The theoretical framework is determined by the concept of M. Rokich about instrumental and terminal values, as well as Yu.A. Zubok’s and V.I. Chuprov’s concept about meaning-in-life values. The article presents data related to the value orientations of Russian students in the context of their changes in the course of study at the University, namely, issues of patriotism, life values, “idols” as models that students strive for, as well as personal characteristics, which determine the value orientations and other characteristics of an individual (instrumental). The main conclusion: life values and value orientations remain almost unchanged after 4 years of training, while personal characteristics may change throughout the process of training and education. The University can also affect such values as patriotism and the presence of an “idol”. For students of the RUDN University, the questions of patriotism are “difficult”, and idols are most often either family members or no one at all, which is confirmed by data from other surveys. The proposed conceptual model of monitoring may be of interest to employees of other universities and specialists in the field of education, youth work and youth sociology.

The article presents the results of the longitudinal study, which was conducted during the years 2018 and 2019 and aimed to identify changes in the assessment of certain socio-economic and psychological aspects of working and living in the Arctic by students of different courses. Special attention was paid to such factors as transport and social infrastructure, working conditions, wages, social guarantees, the climate, health status, the psychological atmosphere in a team, the possibility of self-realization. The sample population at the first stage of the study was 618 people (2018). After bringing the 2019-sample in line with the parameters of the 2018-sample, 337 students’ questionnaires were analyzed in the second stage. The main research method was a questionnaire survey, the results of which were statistically processed using such methods as the qualitative analysis of the empirical data, the analysis of primary statistics, the analysis of contingency tables (for nominative data), comparative and variance analyses (for metric data). The software “Statistica” was used for statistical processing. The main results of the study, first of all, include an increase in internal motivation to work in the Arctic among the students from the 2019-sample: they, to a greater extent, compared to junior students, emphasize the need for personal interest in work. The analysis of the answers of the respondents in year 2019 showed an increasing role of wages and the understanding of difficult climate conditions and the associated difficulties of living in deciding whether to work in the Arctic. In other words, the longitudinal study, implemented during the years 2018 and 2019, recorded the obvious increase in motivation, as well as the increase in the requirements for working and living conditions in the harsh Arctic climate among the surveyed students during their transition to the senior year.

Digitalization of education and the development of electronic pedagogy as a branch of pedagogical science are the conditions that actualize the analysis of online courses application mo-dels which is the purpose of this study. Based on the analysis of scientific pedagogical literature, the article addresses the typology of online courses integration models implemented in the traditional (face-to face) educational process. The author has studied and summarized the various approaches to selecting  integration models of online courses  in Russian and  foreign scientific and pedagogical literature and developed a typology of patterns of online courses application based on three criteria: the organization of the educational process (characteristics: the character of the online course incorporating in the educational process, a way of organizing the educational process), the contents of traditional face-to-face and online components in the learning content (characteristics: a change in the structure of educational process, forms and methods of training), and the organization of interaction between the subjects of the educational process (characteristics: organization of pedagogical support, organization of pedagogical interaction between the subjects). This approach made it possible to pinpoint thirty-four models of online courses application and  integration. Each model implemented in practice can be identified unambiguously when typologizing by one characteristic of the corresponding criterion and refer to several types when considering its different characteristics.

Upholding the quality of education in the absence of face-to-face contact requires an environmental approach and the creation of the unified online space and eLearning platform. The article makes the case for the relevance of creating automated tools for assessing the existing competencies of a listener necessary to form an individual learning route. The authors have developed methods for providing an automated pedagogical monitoring, described the principles of work of the automated diagnostic systems, and also gave the examples of its implementation. The suggested method combining key words and Template matching enables to optimize the eLearning platform. The article considers the possibilities of the system of automated pedagogical monitoring application when using the case technologies and students’ project work remotely in an electronic environment. In particular, the implementation of an expert assessment method using image theory and machine learning is presented. The article argues that electronic didactics makes it possible to expand the functionalities of pedagogical monitoring in conditions of digitalization, while maintaining the principles of traditional pedagogy. Taking into account the fact that there is a huge variety of different foreign and domestic aggregators of online courses it is necessary to develop a technology providing a selection of on-demand courses to reduce the time expenditure.

One of the vital issues of modern education is assessing the level of students’ knowledge using a point-based grading system. Various approaches to definition of this phenomenon have been examined, and based on their analysis, the authors have come to the conclusion that the use of PBGS solves several important problems. First, it helps to evaluate students’ knowledge more accurately by increasing the maximum possible number of points. Second, it provides a possibility to evaluate individual work activities. Third, it encourages students to work hard to master new material throughout the semester. The authors have also scrutinized the disadvantages of this knowledge assessment system. These include: the risk of a biased judgment; fostering individualism when everyone is interested only in his/her personal growth; dominance of the written test over the oral answer; and the use of test tasks, which allows one to determine only the initial conceptual level of the subject without revealing the problematic, conceptual depth of knowledge, without identifying creative minds who can think outside the box. Then, through a mental experiment, various pedagogical situations have been assessed in which a formal use of a point-based grading system leads to biased results. The article proposes specific measures to improve the point-based grading system, so as to achieve a more objective assessment of competence level in students of higher educational institutions: 1) at least 50% of the total score should be planned for the final test event; 2) the final certification should include a small number of questions, which will allow, on the one hand, to save students’ time and effort, and, on the other, to master the material in depth; 3) dual accounting should be helpful – of the total number of points in the PBGS and of the final certification grades in the subject; 4) it is necessary to provide for an option to “transfer” points from one kind of work to another. In closing, the authors conclude that a point-based grading system has its own advantages and disadvantages, and, adhering to the above rules, it is possible to strengthen the former and weaken the latter. However, it should be emphasized that a complete switch to the PBGS and break with the traditional methods of testing knowledge seem inappropriate.

Modern educational landscape has been undergoing drastic changes due to the processes of internationalization and transnationalization. Internationalization in higher education is manifold, student academic mobility being one of its manifestations. It is often associated with ERASMUS, the programme that has been implemented in European higher education for almost 30 years. It provides short-term student exchange programmes and involves EU member states as well as other European countries, including Russia. The effect of ERASMUS on higher education of EU countries has been thoroughly studied, while its Russian segment remains a white spot. This article reports on the study done among Russian students who participated in ERASMUS students exchange programmes in 2018–2020 as well as the Russian students educated along with their international colleagues in a home university. The employment of qualitative methods revealed that Russian participants of ERASMUS exchange programmes find them very effective. The most significant benefits include the development of cross-cultural competence as well as professional skills and personal growth. Students working with international participants of ERASMUS programme in a home university were very positive about the experience. Such communication makes the classes interesting, helps Russian students develop understanding of cultural issues, increases their motivation and gives impetus to self-development. 

Translator training in the coordinates of the global educational space implies an integrative approach to unification and at the same time extension of theoretical, methodological and didactic approaches. At the same time, the search for effective ways and tools of interaction is carried out at different levels – academic, professional communities, individual persons, since the profession of a translator implies communication without borders, networking and constant expansion of the circle of partnerships. This article analyzes the effectiveness of one of the current tools for interuniversity cooperation in the format of Staff Week internships, integrated into the Erasmus + academic mobility program, in the focus of its validity and functionality in training translators. The study provides an analysis of domestic and foreign scientific and educational works on the scientific, didactic potential of the program, a review of the current state of affairs in the field of intercollegiate cooperation within Erasmus + on the example of the Russian university – Volgograd State University and the German university – International University SDI Munich. These universities have been developing partnership relations since the 90s, however, Erasmus has been cooperating with them recently and quite successfully. The material of the study is an overview of the structure and content of the Staff Week internships of Volgograd State University teachers at SDI Munich. The Intercultural component of interaction is effectively manifested in the optimization of didactic models in the partner university, updating of curricula, expanding the horizons of joint projects, which certainly contributes to improving the quality of educational services in the field of translation and promotes the integration of education in general. The results of this research can be useful for the organization of the educational process in university educational programs in the areas of training specialists in the field of translation and intercultural communication.