This article considers at the university level the graduates’ income information, as well as budgetary and private cost estimates to determine budgetary and private impact of education using the calculation of internal rate of return. Since the graduates’ income information is available for only three-year period after the graduation, the synthetic profile of the graduates’ income during their lives is constructed according to the regional microdata. Results of the calculation show that the average impact of higher education is about 9 %, which is consistent with other estimates. In addition to list of universities indicating their impact, the article presents conclusions and recommendations, based on the analysis of the impact’s types and the correlation with other parameters, particularly with Unified State Examination scores for entry into higher education. The article’s value consists in demonstration of the possible approach for estimates, considering impact of investment in higher education at the university, faculty or department level. Researchers of the future can build on methodology and estimates, presented in this article, to obtain more accurate and reliable data on private impact of investment in higher education.

This research article presents the analysis and interpretation of the data of the authors’ study of the condition, problems and prospects of higher education digitalization at RSUH in comparison with the experience of leading foreign and Russian universities.
The purpose of the article is to determine the level and features of the digitalization process of Russian higher education before, during and after the pandemic.
The theoretical basis of the research is institutional and socio-cultural approaches that suggest considering the introduction of online education in the context of responding to the challenge of the formation of the digital economy and digital society. The empirical basis of the study is a survey conducted in April 2020 by the online questionnaire method, in which 327 people (representatives of the teaching staff, researchers, heads of educational departments (deans, heads of research centers), deputy heads of departments, as well as employees of deaneries, research centers and departments) took part in. Based on the generalization and interpretation of the data of the study, the authors showed that the digitalization of higher education at RSUH, as at other Russian universities, is based on the formation of an electronic information and educational environment. It appears that the evaluation of the level of access to this environment and the quality of services provided is high enough, while the effectiveness of the application needs to be improved. The introduction of electronic document management and meaningful communication with students remain the “pain points”.
The causes and consequences of the impact of the pandemic on the digitalization of higher education are identified in the article. Among them: the need for new forms of student-teacher-administration communication; lack of specialized educational materials for online education; technical, methodological and psychological unpreparedness of teachers for distance education. The future belongs to mixed forms of equivalent and digital higher education. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the novelty of the comparative study of online education in Russian universities conducted by the authors (on the example of RSUH, MEPhI, NSU), as well as in the justification of the formation of hybrid (mixed) forms of higher education. Based on this study it is proposed to form a university management strategy and implement the restructuring of the educational process.

The study provides a review of the admission to universities models in different countries and also a comparative analysis of the educational systems characteristics from an international perspective. The aim of the research is to assess the possible impact of the educational system characteristics on the accessibility of higher education. There is also proposed an analytical model which explains how the level of autonomy and selectivity of the educational system, along with the characteristics of the student financial support influence the level of accessibility of higher education. The framework of the model is supported by the cases of selected groups of countries: post-Soviet countries, the USA and the UK, Scandinavian countries and Western European countries. Based on the classification of higher education systems, countries with the highest level of access to higher education tend to have low levels of autonomy and selectivity, or they also can be characterized by highly developed system of financial support. As a result, it was found that high selectivity and autonomy level can negatively influence the accessibility of higher education, while high level of the financial support system may neutralize this effect and positively influence on the access to higher education. Results of the study can be useful while reforming the selection system in Russia, since comparative analysis shows which tools make it possible to increase the accessibility of higher education and, as a result, to reduce educational inequality among different social groups.

Barriers to Academic Career Development for University TeachersThe relevance of the issue in the present study is determined by the fact that it is difficult to engage and retain employees (including young ones) in the academic sphere because of various career barriers, which complicate pursuing a career in higher education. The study was conducted using the method of expert interviews with 108 full-time employees of Russian universities including administration, management, academic and teaching staff. These interviews identified the key barriers to academic careers for researchers and also classified these barriers. Presented findings can be useful for HR departments of higher education institutions for building various career paths for the employees of different ages, or for identifying specific types of barriers in career development to be overcome. The results of the study are relevant for academic and teaching staff interested in career development. The prospect of further research is to conduct a quantitative analysis based on the questionnaire results received from interviewing academic and teaching staff with the use of the proposed classification of academic career barriers.

The research article considers an influence of university research funding on the development of different kind of universities. During last 10–15 years a lot of strategic documents regarding development of science and higher education mention an importance of intensive grow on research in universities. They should transform to research centers instead of just education facilities, lead a scientific field in Russia. Presumably such additions in science management practices as new evaluation, stimulation and efficiency improvement instruments and mechanisms will increase an influence of R&D departments on whole university development.
The main purpose of current article is to analyze trends in shifts of research funding indicators for universities of different profiles and for higher education sector in general; to compare research funding volume with public indicators of university development; to evaluate the impact of research in higher education to higher institution development indicators. During the study our group has analyzed connections between research funding indicators and individual R&D efficiency indicators at universities. The analysis is based on statistics from Federal State Statistics Service, and annual monitoring of university activities for the period 2014–2020, from Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. The result of the study shows an insignificant effect of university research funding volume to university development indicators; high government participance in higher institutions research development; significant irregularity and historical inertia in reorganization of universities to large scientific and education centers.

This research article is devoted to the problem of training personnel with higher medical education during the transition to an independent assessment of the graduates’ qualifications and new requirements for the effectiveness of scientific work of universities. The aim of this work was to study the correspondence between the quality of graduate training and the scientific productivity of medical universities. The authors analyzed the results of the accreditation examination of graduates of medical universities as an indicator of the quality of specialists’ training and scientometric indicators in the relevant specialty. As a result of the data analysis, the problem of discrepancy between high scientific productivity of universities and successful completion of accreditation by young specialists was revealed. The authors believe that a possible reason for this discrepancy is the high load on the teaching staff.
Furthermore, detailed study of this problem is needed and, most likely, a revision of the approach to the work organization of medical universities’ teaching staff.

This article studies the main cultural and social processes influencing the formation of modern educational space. We analyze the traditional models of the educational cycle and propose a new one. The latter, unifying research, education and knowledge realization activities, reflects the interaction of education, research, experimental production and information processing as architectural space functions. There is revealed the system of trends affecting the architecture of scientific and educational facilities when forming high-quality spatial solutions of university campus facilities. The structure of the university complexes’ «intellectual capital» is supplemented by spatial, infrastructural capital and architectural image of the complex. A theoretical model of the functional and spatial structure represents the scientific and educational center as a modern technological architectural and spatial unit of campus. The author also gives some examples on forming scientific and educational complexes at various levels of designing architectural and spatial objects based on a modern model of a new educational cycle. This paper might be of use for specialists in the fields of education and architecture, as well as for scientific and educational facilities designers.

The appeal system for Chinese university students is created and implemented by the state. But not a single system launched «from above» will function without being demanded by society. And in order to identify a particular demand, it is necessary to make empirical investigations (especially in-depth interviews) and to carefully analyze the first-hand data obtained. Such studies revealed the social demand for protecting the students’ rights; for controlling the actions of higher educational institutions’ administration; for reducing the burden on the courts forced to participate in resolving conflicts between the university and its students. It was due to this demand that the state developed a system of appeals for university students and made it come from paper to practice. Thus, the results of our analyzing the stage-by-stage creation, implementation, and improvement of the appeal system for university students in China, as presented in this research article, not only reflect the advantages of grass-roots promoting state policy, but also indicate the importance for the Chinese government to take into account social needs and respond to them.

The case presents the experience of Ural Federal University in forming a strategy for its communication with target groups as a response to external challenges defined by new positioning of the institution in the international scientific and educational sphere. The university had to ultimately restructure the services responsible for promoting its brand, expand the variety of interaction practices both within the academic environment and from the outside – with graduates, their parents, teachers, scientific community, governance and business. Formation of the new media communication strategy has taken place under lack of appropriate management practices and their analytical support. These practices are still sketchy and remain underexplored. The case of Ural Federal University allows to supplement the arsenal of works and researches in the sphere of media strategies development of Russian universities. The novelty of the proposed case lies in analysis of the setting of strategic aims in this sphere, in developing and substantiation of structural decisions and practical mechanisms, which are confirmed by the verification of independent expert sources for effectiveness and realizability. The experience of Ural Federal University would be useful both to researchers of universities’ media activity and to practicians, because it reflects the experience if creating an effective model of modern media strategy, which allowed the university in 2021 to become one of the leaders of Russian Ministry of Education rating of Russian universities’ media activity.

The review is devoted to the author’s interpretation of the content of the monograph «University managers: theory, practice and efficiency of personal work organization» of S. D. Reznik, I. S. Chemezov (2021). The key subjects of the book devoted to the theory and practice of effective organization of the activities of a modern university manager are revealed. The biographical context of the creation of the monograph and its position in a long-term research and publishing project on the problems of Russian higher education and university management are shown.