This article analyses the most effective marketing channels of attracting foreign students. The number of foreign students is one of the most important performance indicators taken into consideration when preparing international university rankings. Conclusions and practical recommendations on working with main instruments and methods of foreign students recruiting are based on the analysis of quantitative research conducted by the university specialists and data analysis from Google Analytics and Yandex university site metrics. This research was conducted to identify the most effective instruments and methods of attracting foreign students and understanding geo- targeting peculiarities. The main task of the research is to prepare an analytical basis for developing and ensuring high-performance marketing strategy for university internationalization. It was found that the most influential factor for foreign student's positive decision concerning enrollment is online promotion tools which in turn requires more in-depth analysis of digital marketing resource analysis and search for new online opportunities. The article also looks into the practices of using modern pilot tools of attracting foreign students as a possible innovative recruiting method in university strategy.

The paper highlights the best practices of European and Russian universities in academic mobility implementation within the European Commission initiatives in the field of education. Implementation of European experience for introduction of new approaches in international student's recruitment in Russian universities is analyzed at institutional and national level (based on the expertise of National Erasmus+ Office in Russian Federation). The authors conclude that along with evident benefits of partnerships some widely used European practices are not sufficiently utilized by Russian universities.

The article falls under review category. The aim of the article is to find a solution to the problem of international student recruiting management, forming a more overall approach to recruiting management including adjacent stages. The article has been written because of the growing interest towards internationalization and foreign student recruiting as part of internationalization process. Often Russian universities see recruiting as an independent process aimed at achieving certain control numbers, whereas in the international educational space recruiting is one of the elements of interacting with foreign students. The article provides an overview of approaches to attracting foreign students both in countries having the leading position in this field (the USA, Canada) and in South Pacific countries and Eastern Europe that have recently started an active development in this area. The authors used such methods as theoretical analysis of the course, statistical data analysis, interviews with heads of departments dealing with foreign students recruiting at international educational institutions, analyzing organization of recruiting activities during international business trips. The article demonstrates that despite active state support of foreign students recruiting in the abovementioned countries, results of recruiting largely depend on activities of universities themselves. The stated goal can be reached by coherent work at two levels: state and intra-university. At the state level it means supporting continuous dialogue between universities and the Ministry of Education; at intra-university it requires using complex recruiting technology. The value of the article is in suggesting practical steps on organizing pre-recruiting, recruiting and post-recruiting activities at the university level. The article is of interest for vice-rectors on international activities aimed at foreign students recruitment, heads of international offices, and foreign students recruiting offices.

This article is devoted to the analysis of dynamics of main internationalization performance criteria of leading Russian universities that are members of the Federal project on upgrading international competitiveness of the Russian universities among the leading academic and research centers (Project 5-100). The article also looks into the practices of recruiting foreign graduate and postgraduate students and possibilities of education export commercialization among the Russian universities. Obtained results demonstrate that despite the growth of foreign students numbers at most of Project 5-100 participants opportunities for education export commercialization for many of these universities are limited. Some of the reasons of insufficient realization of the Russian universities education potential are: absence of single strategic document at the federal level that would state priority areas, forms and mechanisms of international cooperation; insufficient development of electronic and information services in foreign languages at university websites; considerable opportunities for obtaining financing for foreign students education from the Federal budget. Results of the research presented in the article can be useful for representatives of the Russian Federation administration in charge of formulating and implementing educational policy, as well as for research on the following implementation of Project 5-100 and education internationalization in general.

We consider the origins and development of the concept of higher education internationalization in the context of globalization processes; the main stages in the concept formation are identified. A substantial increase in the significance of comprehensive internationalization processes for developing and maintaining the international competitiveness of universities in the global knowledge society is demonstrated. Key motives and functions of internationalization are examined. Principal mechanisms for effective internationalization of higher education institutions in modern conditions are described. There is presented a case study of internationalization of National Research Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod, a participant of the «5-100 Program». We characterize the main technologies applied for UNN internationalization in the course of the last twenty-five years, including the role of internationalization in the strategy of university development and management, as well as the mechanisms involved in the internationalization of education, and organization of work with international students. The key results and the prospects for further development of university internationalization processes in the context of enhancing its competitiveness among the world's leading science and education centers are discussed.

This article is devoted to the export of higher Education, as it is becoming increasingly important in the strategy of socio-economic development in various countries around the world. Experts estimate that the global market of higher education is equivalent to 150 billion US dollars. Russia currently holds less than 1% of this market. In most education - exporting countries, research on the contribution of international studentts to the national economy is held on a regular basis. It is known that, in addition to tuition fees, foreign students also pay for their accommodation and other daily expenses during the studies in another country. The total costs include the administrative fees, accommodation or housing rent, education and entertainment. Training costs other than tuition fees include the cost of textbooks, equipment and materials, cost of travel to the university and back and therefore contribute to the development of regional economy. The article attempts to estimate the contribution of foreign students to the Russian economy. In addition, the authors of the article provide recommendations for some of the priority actions that should be taken in order to increase Russian exports of higher education.

The text «Internationalization Networks: Academic Excellence Programs and Network Universities» is a conceptual article devoted to a comparative analysis of approaches to internationalization of the universities that are on the one hand typical of academic excellence programs and on the other hand of network projects. The author looks into the challenges of managing internationalization process at the university using the example of 5-100 Project as a Russian version of academic excellence program and BRICS Network University as a new network initiative of university cooperation in dynamically developing countries. Widely used methods of comparative analysis help the author to conclude that excellence projects largely contradict network cooperation programs. The task of the former is to integrate university into international academic environment, so that university follows the main trends of this environment development, the aim of international network universities is to find their own place in an international academic environment. Excellence programs are oriented towards ratings, competition and international standards while network universities emphasize horizontal connections and solving peculiar regional problems. Author's conclusions are based on the analysis of uni­versity internationalization processes in the context of what is called "academic revolution" in this article: combination of massification, globalization and commercialization. According to the author's opinion, these processes lead to the development of transnational educational capitalism. The author believes that academic excellence programs facilitate inclusion of countries into these processes, whereas network university projects are oriented towards searching for al­ternative solutions. This is the first time such an analysis is conducted. The results of the article can be used in further research into global trends in education development.

To recruit a larger number of international students and to implement tasks set on the national level, universities are interested in the development of new countries and regions along with the establishment of bilateral and multilateral partnerships with their educational organizations. Hence, special interest is allocated to ASEAN countries that are under the process of building a common educational environment contributing to the increase of education quality of their nations. This article deals with integration processes taking place in ASEAN countries, international models of ASEAN student recruitment, as well as offers recommendations on efforts needed on state and institutional levels to forward flow of ASEAN students to the Russian Federation.

The paper aims to reveal internationalization of higher education experience by comparative analysis of development joint universities in China with the universities of non-English-speaking countries - Israel and Russia. The objects of the study are: Guandong Technion Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) and Shenzhen MSU-BIT University formed by Moscow State Lomonosov University (Russian) and Beijing Institute of Technology University. First in research literature the paper characterises running and context of internationalization in comparison in the process of formation the joint universities, as well as the competitive environment in higher education sector of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The author defines the factors influencing on choice of the partners for joint universities inside and outside the country by Chinese side. For Russian universities the author suggests the new opportunities of usage the rankings (ARWU, THE, QS, US News & World Report) in choosing partners abroad and in China. It is proven that geopolitical and economic factors are the most influential in the decision making process of defining the location of the joint universities inside the certain China's provinces. The innovation activities of the university graduates influence on Chinese choice the partner universities in Israel; the political circumstances are more influential for choosing the partners in Russia. The organizational obstacles to leadership of Russian universities are revealed including institutional separation between research and teaching/learning activities trending their isolation to each other. The implemented comparative analysis allowed to open the differences of such internal internationalisation issues of joint universities as: university governance, priorities in levels and areas of studies of their degree programmes, research and educational activities as well as the specific features of positioning at the world/region research-educational market(s). The measures of competitiveness enhancement of Sino-Russian cooperation in higher education are suggested. The special attention is paid to peculiarities of student and academics enrolment in Sino-Russian and Sino-Israeli joint universities. The dimensions of comparison of joint universities in the paper are: - schedules and deadlines announced; - numbers of student enrolment for each degree level; - partner universities from Israel and Russia in China: Total numbers and positions in rankings (ARWU, THE, QS, US News & World Report); - Chinese investments into each joint universities; - investors (government and/or business structures); - aims; - academic policies' priorities: activities, levels of degree programmes, areas of studies, subjects, language(s); - principles of student and academic enrolment and capacity building (MSU-BIT explored more detail).

Research paper. The aim of the article is to identify and study key factors defining peculiarities of foreign students' study in the Russian Federation. The article allows for optimizing the work of university administration with modern foreign students community considering peculiarities of their motivation and sociocultural context of educational environment. The reason behind writing the article is the desire to unify and systematize the practical experience of university management working in the field of international relations and attracting foreign students. The research includes theoretical and practical components. Theoretical component is built on the analysis of educational institutions development history in relation with foreign students in USSR and modern Russia using historical and comparative methods. Empirical part of the research is a set of expert interviews with representatives of higher educational institutions (including teaching staff and administrative staff dealing with international relations) and representatives of the Federal Migration Agency of Russia, as well as a series of interviews with foreign students at Moscow universities. Those interviews allowed for identifying the main targets of foreign students, problems which are the most relevant in terms of adaptation and study. Authors also created a typology of foreign students from Moscow universities. The conducted research allowed for making the following conclusions: individual goals of foreign students coming top Russia are not limited by getting higher education and diplomas, and this should be considered when organizing the work with that group of students; educational and life trajectories of students from technical specializations and humanities differ significantly (the former are more oriented towards education, particularly when coming as part of a target group, whereas the latter wish to stay in Russia and learn to live there). The main problems faced by foreign students are related to communication difficulties in a new cultural and language environment. Another specific feature is that attracting foreign students has gained a political aspect, as government sees education for foreign students as the way to solve longterm strategic tasks in a complex international environment. The article is of interest for those administrative staff members who deal with interaction with foreign students and organization of their educational activities as well as for representatives of rector's office defining priorities in university international relations, Ministry of education and other governmental officials dealing with the topics analyzed in the article. This research is limited by the need for a more differentiated analysis of foreign students' motivation and adaptation degree considering peculiarities of specializations chosen by them and their linguistic and cultural characteristics. The same limitation can form the foundation of a series of following research allowing for a more in-depth study of foreign students phenomenon in modern Russia.

The aim of this article is to look into new instruments of enhancing Russian universities' competitiveness at the international educational services market, namely benchmarking of main educational programs of the leading international universities and using results for improving quality of educational programs of Russian universities taught in English with the aim of increasing foreign students recruiting numbers. The article includes aim-setting; short review of literature on the topic; description of the problem requiring the use of benchmarking; justification of reference international universities choice on the basis of target group educational migration (using the example of India); comparative analysis of educational programs structure and content; examples of practical application of the conducted research (educational program structure); conclusions and practical recommendations. Тру сonducted research allowed for identifying the best practices of leading international universities with the aim of pinpointing main characteristics for developing innovational policy and concrete innovations in teaching foreign students in order to enhance university competitiveness (using the example of Tomsk Polytechnic University) at the international educational services market. The authors have identified several difficulties of introducing benchmarking into educational system: necessary financial costs for research and updating teaching, methodic and staff support of the program; insufficient understanding of importance and efficacy of this method for international educational development demonstrated by the Russian universities. Practical recommendations deal with introducing changes into different aspects of developing and supporting teaching programs in English (updating teaching and methodic materials, program advertisement, upgrading qualification of lecturers). The conclusions define the perspectives of benchmarking international educational programs of the leading international universities with the aim of upgrading recognizability and attractiveness of Russian educational programs read in English at the international market, which is particularly important in recruiting international students. This article for the first time presents systematic data on educational migration of students from India (including geographical, university and program spread) which allows for choosing matching reference universities for benchmarking research. The article contains results of comparative analysis of educational programs of leading international universities which allows for making conclusions concerning main differences between these educational products and the Russian educational system products and formulate practical recommendations for altering programs in order to improve their recognizability, attractiveness and competitiveness at the international market.

The aim of this paper is to study the interdependence between university internationalization level and their position in respected international ratings. Nowadays, integration into international educational space has become a matter of top priority for many Russian universities. However, the question concerning the degree of international component influence over their position in international ratings remains unanswered. This article is an attempt of using mathematic statistical methods to identify the interdependence between these two indicators. The objects of the research include 18 Russian universities featured in QS and THE ratings in 2016 and 18 international universities from top-100 universities in the above mentioned ratings. Analysis of the obtained results allows presenting a descriptive hypothesis on two opposing trends, typical of foreign and Russian universities. The latter demonstrate either weak positive or weak negative correlation between rating position and international activities indicators. Foreign universities, on the contrary, demonstrate pronounced positive correlation between indicators under analysis. Maximal correlation has been identified between QS rating and the number of foreign lecturers. Hypotheses suggested in this article can be of interest to university administration in the process of formulating and altering strategic development plans.

The main conclusion of the article is the need for transition from linear higher education model prevailing in Russia to a nonlinear one. The focus is made on opportunities and challenges of nonlinear higher education model implementation in the macro-region. Theoretical premise for understanding transition from linear to nonlinear higher education model in the region is the analysis of regional and macro-regional peculiarities in the Russian higher education. Such differences can include macro-regional and regional inequalities in the field of higher education. Their main manifestations based on objective and subjective reasons are presented via qualitative and quantitative characteristics. The article demonstrates that ways of overcoming university educational inequalities should be first of all found in an experimental project within one of the macro-regions of the country. The situation of possible transition to nonlinear higher education model in the Ural macro-region is used as a case, as it is one of most suitable macro-regions for testing this theoretical concept. The research uses such methods as the analysis of statistic data and in-depths expert interviews aimed at studying expert evaluations and conducted by a research group of the Ural Federal University under author's supervision together with the acknowledged specialists in the field of higher education from two macro-regions - Ural and Volga regions.

The main focus of the article is the question if mergers, takeovers, and organizational restructuring lead to increased university efficacy. The task of defining efficacy with several "input" and "output" performance indicators nowadays is easily solved by a data envelope analysis (DEA). Two models for evaluating educational and academic efficacy of a university. Calculations use DEA model oriented towards input (Input Orientated) with constant return to scale (Constant Returns to Scale, CRS). In order to conduct comparative analysis of groups of universities undergoing restructuring process of different magnitude the authors suggest several university classifications: - according to the number of merged and/or liquidated units; - restructuring completion period; - restructuring mechanism type; - including mid level professional education into the university under evaluation. In order to test the suggested hypotheses the authors used non parametric statistic methods of average comparison. The pool for this research covered 132 universities with the Russian Federation Ministry of Education and Science as a founder. The research has not identified decreased efficacy of universities as a result of restructuring process. It has turned out that universities actively participating in restructuring processes have become more effective in comparison with other universities. The research has not observed the effect of temporary decrease and following growth of efficacy at organizations undergoing mergers or takeovers. The research has not supported the hypothesis of decreasing university efficacy as a result of taking over mid level professional education institution. The results of the research clearly indicate the lag in efficacy as compared to the leading competitors where 2010 is a reference year. The authors understand that testing whether suggested hypotheses are true or false and require more detailed research of the university as compared to 2010. As many countries have accumulated sufficient experience of higher education restructuring the results of research into Russian universities restructuring making a comparison of the efficacy of the leading competitors according to numbers in 2010. The authors understand that it will take time to see if their suggestion are true or false. As foreign higher education restructuring materials can be easily downloaded. The results of the research of Russian Federation universities restructuring allow for provide conclusions, using accumulated theoretical concepts for explaining and predicting possible consequences of using different restricting mechanisms. The article uses academically acknowledged envelope data analysis method. This method is for the first time used to compare university efficacy in dynamics.

The article belongs to a conceptual philosophic and methodological category and is aimed at understanding the phases of society and university development. The article uses such tools as philosophic categories «activity oriented = social = anthropological)). Universities are viewed as social institutions supporting society reproduction and development. Changes taking place at the universities nowadays are seen from the point of view of phase transformation logic as an aspect of postindustrial transition. Four «generations» of universities are identified: preindustrial, industrial, postindus-trial, and cognitive phases. Obtained results allow for new understanding of changes taking place at the university and define university development perspective. This article is the first of the series of publications on the topic of philosophic and methodological grounds for analyzing university transformation as a social institution, characteristics of university generations and description of University 4.0 outline.