The article studies the main attribute of a university’s visual representation - its emblem. Among a few works devoted to the process of university branding, there is no сошріех analysis of their visual representation functioning. However, the observed growth of branding work in various universities increasingly involves the emblem as their graphic identifier. With the help of quantitative and qualitative methods, the structural and semiotic analysis of the emblems has been carried out on a соmріеіе sample of 917 Russian universities, their structure and range of their visual images being characterized, a typology of semiotic meanings being compiled. Consequently, the semiotic bases of Russian universities’ visual representation have been characterized, its functions in the process of university branding being defined. The research results have a wide practical application as a source of information on the use and purposes of university emblems within the higher education system, both for specialists involved in branding (marketing specialists, sociologists, designers etc.) and for PR departments, media centers, and administrations within a university. Nevertheless, the interpretative nature of the semiotic typology and the non-exclusive character of the classification of visual images allow but to designate the semantic directions of the universities positioning, beyond characterizing certain educational institutions in terms of their models of visual communication. Additional studies are necessary to determine the validity of the classification, as well as to clarify the semiotic bases for the typology given.

The research article is aimed at measuring changes in Russian universities' resourcing. Based on the resource stratification theory, it states the consistent patterns of transformation of resource-based institutional stratification in the Russian higher education system. The analysis considers several elements of the resource base: financing, students' knowledge quality, professors and teachers' qualification. Stratification implies grouping objects within a system of resources of similar quantity and quality. That is why there has been applied a cluster analysis for measuring universities' grouping. The data for the research were taken from the Higher Education Institutions' Monitoring of Performance (Ministry of Education). To measure the changes in resourcing, there has been carried out cluster analysis on two datasets, which characterize universities in 2012 and 2016. The transitions of universities from one cluster to another and certain characteristics of clusters allowed us to make a conclusion on the resource stratification getting fixed and on the increasing gap among clusters. In other words, the research has shown that the highly-resourced universities hold, or even strengthen their positions. At the same time, the medium and lowly-resourced universities also tend to fix their position in the system of resources allocation. The fact that the resourcing gap between different groups of universities is increasing makes it possible to hypothesize that the process of resource stratification fixation will continue. The article, therefore, is the first attempt at analyzing resource stratification in dynamics. The results of the research shall be useful for subsequent studies of institutional differentiation in higher education. In addition, the research can affect the discourse about various policy measures and their effects on higher education system. The results of the research also have significant practical implications, as they can be considered an important context for designing public management mechanisms in Russian

Research article. Global development of the information society requires a corresponding change in the education system. Meanwhile, not only the educational tools used (for example, replacing printed textbooks with electronic copies), but also the concept of building an educational system are subject to change. The purpose of this article is to determine the necessary directions of transformation of the Russian education system in the context of global digitalization. In their research, the authors analyze the situation ofRussiain the global digital space, as well as the main global trends in the digitalization of education. The information base of the research are legislative and other legal acts of the Russian Federation, data of international rating and analytical agencies, materials of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as well as data of statistical observations. Based on the assessment of the current state of the Russian educational system and its comparison with global trends, the key directions of the necessary changes have been revealed. In particular, the need for the rapid development of digital infrastructure of educational institutions, training of teachers with modern digital competencies, updating of specialties and areas of training, taking into account trends in the labor market, the formation of educational programs, based on flexible educational trajectories, the development of the concept of continuing education, as well as the introduction of artificial intelligence systems into the educational environment has been shown. During conducting of the research, the authors noted the lack of data necessary for in depth analysis of each of the selected areas. In future, each area should be the subject of independent research, in order to concretize its goals, identify priorities, as well as the formation of a road map for the implementation of measures. The article will be useful to the heads of educational organizations, as well as to all who are engaged in research of modern trends in the market of educational services.

The review article aims at formulating a systematic approach to the formation of an integrated information environment focused on the innovative development of educational services in the context of university digitalization. The methodological basis is the review of scientific publications on the problem of building an integrated information environment and knowledge management within the university, management technologies, and federal legislation on these issues. The article is practically significant due to its describing the tools and processes of knowledge management within the university, in formulating the tasks of the corporate information system, in developing recommendations on the structure of the integrated information environment of the university, focused on the target orientation in business processes management, in individualization of training, in the use of online courses and in network collaboration. The areas of using the managerial design model of the innovative educational services development are the knowledge management technologies linking with internal business processes and the external environment in the university's corporate information system, as well as the possibility of networking with consumers of educational services. The concept of the managerial design model formed the basis for improving, mostly in terms of academic knowledge, the network environment of theKazanNationalResearchTechnicalUniversitynamed after A. N. Tupolev. The article gives the strategic understanding of the role of the university's integrated information environment in online learning and research, in pro- viding training within the real economy, and in participating in network programs. The article is important because of the author's approach to the organization of an integrated information environment of the university, wherein academic and managerial knowledge are combined, as it is aimed at strengthening the competitive advantages of educational services and at achieving the goal of quality education. The article might be interesting for researchers in the field of knowledge management in higher education and for the practitioners of university business processes informatization. In the future, researchers will be able to more detailedly develop the information modules of the corporate information system and management tools of any university's organizational (academic and managerial) knowledge.

Universities are in a state of active transformation both in the field of developing technologies for creating, storing and transmitting knowledge and in their organizational development. The globalization of education and research markets has formed a steady trend of universities' integration. The last decade sees the general process of institutes merging in many countries. Active reorganization of universities through their integration took place in theRussian Federationas well. Currently, the focus of organizational development of universities is shifting from intra-system restructuring to the formation of project and structural partnerships with key stakeholders, primarily belonging to the sphere of business. The impulse to searching new solutions in the universities' transformations originates from a whole range of state programs. Thus, in many regions of the Russian Federation 2017 saw the start of work on forming university centres of innovation, technological and social development of regions in partnership with enterprises and organizations. According to the results of the 2017 competitive selection, 51 universities received the status of such centres, including 22 key, 3 national research and 10 federal universities from 39 regions. Within the national technology development initiative, the project to create 15 research and educational centres puts forward theoretical and applied issues on designing a new type of universities' structural organization, which would represent diffusion, interpenetration of universities and their key stakeholders. This article aims at discussing the readiness of universities and their partners to create such structures, as well as at analysing existing practices, and institutional constraints. The study is new, as it introduces the term «dif- fuse structures» denoting a new type of weakly formalized universities with key stakeholders, and analyzes the level of maturity of such structures based on surveys. The purpose of the article is to study the attitude of regional stakeholders of universities to the formation and development of diffuse structures and processes that ensure effective interaction for solving the objectives of social and economic development of territories and industries.

This research article studies the compliance of educational services offer in the macroregional (Far Eastern Federal District) system of higher education with the needs of the social and economic development of the territory and the demand for these services. Accelerating the growth of the economic potential of the Far Eastern region requires the availability and training of highly qualified personnel in the region to serve the needs of a developing economy. The purpose of the article, as set by the authors, was to analyse the correspondence of the Far Eastern macroregional higher education system to the current and future needs of its social and economic development, as well as to the applicants’ demand. The research, in the context of each subject of the Russian Federation as a part of the Far Eastern Federal District, studied the state supply of training specialists with higher education. This supply was compared with the relevant personnel’s current and future economic needs. In addition, the figures on the population’s demand for higher education programmes were studied, and then correlated with the structure and scope of supply in the context of integrated groups of specialties. The study is based on the data from the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation and the website of the Unified Information System to support the activities of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. As a result, for most regions of the Far East the study revealed the non-compliance of the system of personnel training with the needs of social and economic development of territories and with the demand of the population. The authors see the solution of this problem in redistributing responsibilities of federal, regional, and macroregional bodies of higher education, in strengthening the mechanisms for taking into account the capabilities and needs of territories when determining the structure and scope of higher education services for the medium term.