Introduction. The modern period of development of higher education is directly related to the ongoing digital transformation of public relations. The changes that occur in universities, in their external interactions and functions, basic principles and value-normative foundations, require methodological analysis and research.

Aim. The aim of the research is to analyse the theoretical approaches to disclosing the concept and essence of digital universities.

Methodology and research methods. The mix-method was used as a research design: qualitative analysis (studying the content of theoretical sources and context, analysing the content of a concept) and quantitative analysis (scientometric analysis of publications and keywords in databases).

Results. The study showed that in the methodological terms, there is a problem of defining the concept of “digital university”: there are several theoretical approaches based on different understanding of the phenomenon and its role in the digital development of the university. The methodological problem is complicated by the urgent need to systematise the practical activities of modern universities, which classify themselves in one way or another in the “digital” format; therefore, this is much more difficult to do without a coordinated approach to the concept itself.

Scientific novelty lies in an attempt to systematise theoretical approaches to defining the concept of “digital university” and the problem of the absence of a holistic interdisciplinary approach has been identified.

Practical significance of the study is associated with the need to develop a regulatory model of a digital university based on a holistic concept for the subsequent analysis of the activities of universities. The results of the analysis can be used in scientific discussion to further define the concept of “digital university” and develop a general model of a digital university.

Introduction. The study draws attention to the need to transform the Russian system of medical education. It is connected with overcoming modern challenges and Russia’s focus on improving the quality of life of people as a key state priority. The authors substantiate the connection of the patient-centred approach with the values of the “anthropological turn” in the field of medical education. The results of the analysis of foreign experience in the implementation of patient-oriented pedagogical focus in the practices of medical education are given. The study analyses the cases related to the peculiarities of patient communities functioning in order to identify their possible influence on the development of medical education practices.

Aim. The current research aimed to identify ways and conditions of using the opportunities of patient communities for the development of practices of Russian medical education.

Methodology and research methods. System-based, activity-oriented and phenomenological approaches made up the methodology of the study. Research methods: theoretical analysis, phenomenological analysis, structural analysis, survey, Delphi technique, focus group.

Results. The research results are the following:

1. The main directions for the development of medical education practices in the patient-oriented paradigm were outlined, namely: the formation of new, defined in terms of polysubjectivity (students, teachers, practitioners, representatives of patient communities) ways of organising educational interaction; transformation of didactic characteristics of medical academic programmes; updating the forms and means of work to form the worldview of future doctors within the framework of humanistic values.
2. The study revealed the features of the educational functionality of patient communities, which is significant for the development of medical education practices, shown through the following roles of patient community: diagnostician, content developer, designer, moderator, mediator, researcher, analyst, technologist, teacher (trainer), expert. The revealed roles allowed the authors to identify patient community as an actor in the development of modern Russian medical education practices.
3. The organisational and pedagogical ways of patient community influence on the development of medical education were identified: interactive polysubject collaboration of pedagogical, medical and patient communities in the design and implementation of academic programmes; organisation of open design-reflective communication platforms for discussing topical problems of patient communities with the involvement of subjects of medical education; volunteer projects integrating the activity of patient communities and students of medical academic programmes.
4. The study identified the conditions for using patient communities for the development of education practices and professional development of a modern physician, including: well-established organisational and methodological mechanisms for the implementation of roles of the patient community in the organisation of all didactic components of the educational process (its types) in the system of continuous professionalisation of physicians (objectives, content, teaching technologies, monitoring of educational results); availability of systemically functioning mechanisms for introducing students of medical academic programmes to the practices of medical communities.

Scientific novelty. The study substantiates the expediency of the interaction of the professional and educational medical communities with the patient as a factor in the development of the Russian system of medical education within the framework of a patient-oriented paradigm that reflects the values of the anthropological turn.

The study reveals the types of activities of patient communities. These types reflect their identity as a new actor in the development of Russian medical education practices, namely: communicative, informational, project, expert, and diagnostic; evidence-based motivation for change.

The authors prove the potential of the patient community as an actor in the development of Russian medical education practices, the implementation of which is ensured by creating organisational and pedagogical conditions that actualise these communities as the subjects of the educational process through multifaceted and functionally defined roles.

The study outlines the ways and conditions of using the potential of polysubject interaction (patient, professional and educational medical communities) to transform the basic didactic characteristics of the educational process (its variations) in the medical education system.

Practical significance. The obtained scientific results can be used to develop the content and activity-technological formats of educational programmes of higher medical education, to enrich practices of continuous medical education, to expand the productive experience of interaction between patient, medical and educational communities.

Introduction. The structural reorganisation of the Russian economy will require a revision of approaches to training specialists in the field of information technology in the context of the “war for talents” unfolded in the world. HR digital revolution (digital transformation) is one of the conditions for Russia’s breakthrough into the sixth technological order to ensure digital sovereignty in Russia.

Aim. On the basis of identifying significant problems in the adaptability of the Russian higher education system to provide national economy with personnel, the present research aimed to formulate approaches to the strategy aimed at determining the number of university admission quotas in training programmes related to digital transformation.

The literature highlights two serious problems regarding the policy of distribution of admission quotas for higher education programmes: 1) the allocated admission quotas for the most part do not correspond to the structure of the regional economy; 2) violation of the norm of the number of students per 10 thousand of the population aged 17 to 30 years, as a result, in some regions, the number of school graduates significantly exceeds the number of budget places in universities. The hypothesis of the study consists in the assumption that the policy of distribution of admission quotas for training in higher education programmes is flexible, providing for an increase in enrolment for training in areas related to information and communication technologies with an increase in “demand” for training in these areas.

Methodology and research methods. The work was carried out on the basis of a systematic approach. Theoretical research methods (methods-operations) were used: analysis (literature on the research problem, normative documents), comparison and generalisation, induction, synthesis. The main theoretical method-action was the inductive-deductive method. At the first stage of the study, the analysis of the number of students enrolled for full-time study (computer science and computer engineering) at the expense of federal budget allocations (period 2016–2021) was carried out. As a result of data generalisation in certain areas of training and comparative analysis of the number of applicants with the allocated admission quotas, the discrepancy (gap) between compared values was established. At the second stage of the research, similar methods were used in areas related to computer and information sciences and information security to confirm the systemic nature of the identified phenomenon.

Results and scientific novelty. Based on the analysis of the admissions (period 2016– 2021) to the specialities related to information technology (computer science and computer engineering, computer and information science, information security), the author has identified a gap between admission to the university and admission quotas. The essence of this gap is that in the analysed areas of training, the number of full-time students accepted for full-time education at the expense of federal budget allocations is significantly lower than the volume of allocated admission quotas. Thus, according to the enlarged groups of specialities (EGS) “Computer Science and Computer Engineering”, the number of accepted undergraduate and graduate programmes was less than the allocated admission quotas for 37519 university places (17075 + 20444); the gap in the speciality “Computer and Information Sciences” (bachelor degree programme + master degree programme) was 3584 (1722 + 1862); “Information Security” (bachelor degree programme + specialist degree programme) – 4082 (1393 + 2689). The possible causes of the gap are analysed and proposals are formulated to improve the institutional provision of training for digital transformation.

Practical significance. The research results can be used to adjust the strategy for the development of scientific and educational sphere.

Introduction. The Ministry of Education (MOE) of the Azerbaijan Republic requires that students take an exit exam at the end of secondary schooling. The school exit exam (SEE) is administered to graduating students in 11^th grade (i.e., high school equivalent) in three core subjects: (1) mathematics, (2) instructional language, and (3) foreign language. The State Examination Centre (SEC) has administered the SEE for over five years and recently changed the format, impacting university admissions (UA). In 2019, admission to a university was in two stages: (1) the SEE and (2) the university admissions exam. The current study used publicly available SEC data (N = 73) from Azerbaijan’s 2019/2020 academic year by region.

Aim. The current research aims to examine the cultural, economic, and educational predictors of the school exit exam (SEE) in Azerbaijan’s cities/regions according to the 2020 data. The article intends to demonstrate the relationship between economic, educational, and cultural precursors for successful versus unsuccessful SEE results. 

Methodology and research methods. This correlational study used Multivariate (MANOVA) and Univariate (ANOVA) Analyses of Variance (RQ1) and Multiple Regressions (RQ2 and RQ3).

Results. For cultural predictors of the SEE, the Northern region had significantly higher Instructional Language (p = .010), English (p = .020), and Total scores (p = .010) compared to other regions. For economic indicators of the SEE, the average monthly salary was significantly predictive of Foreign Language (p = .035). For educational variables, the percentage of outstanding graduating students was predictive of all outcomes (p < .000 for all).

Scientific novelty and practical significance. Literature supports that the percentage of outstanding students and a family’s annual income are strong positive predictors of SEE scores for all four D.V.s. Thus, this study claims that regions with exceptional academic performance and high family income tend to produce higher SEE scores. This substantive finding highlights the inter-rater reliability between the MOE and the SEC, as academic achievement is assessed by the MOE and the exit exam by the SEC. 

Introduction. Innovative activity, as a creative productive activity, has always been and remains the basis for ensuring the progress of society and innovative training is one of the priorities of educational institutions. These aspects become especially relevant in relation to the professional training of future technology teachers, who will have to prepare the younger generation for the innovative activity at the initial stage of their training and form a stable opinion among them about the need to acquire knowledge and skills required for innovative activity. To solve these problems, most researchers create an educational environment (EE) of the appropriate model (developing, innovative, ecological, etc.). However, they do not address the issues of preparing technology teachers for innovation and do not fully utilise all available educational resources, including digital ones. In this regard, there is a problem of creating a new innovative pedagogical and technological educational environment (IPTEE).

Aim. The current research aimed to identify and substantiate the possibility of effective preparation of future technology teachers for innovative activities when teaching in an innovative pedagogical and technological educational environment.

Methodology and research methods. The research methodology is based on the following conceptual provisions: 1) innovative activity has arisen together with the formation of human society and has always determined its development; 2) one of the main tasks of each university is the innovative training of students; 3) the training of innovative activity is understood as the formation of students’ competence in innovative activity; 3) the training of innovative activity is most effectively carried out in conditions for the formation of an appropriate educational environment. To implement the aforementioned provisions, the updated authors’ methodological system of research on the problem of innovative training of university students was used. Such methodological system provides the implementation of mixed, project, “inverted” and other methods of teaching innovation in the basis of integrated, convergent, environmental and other approaches to learning.

Results and scientific novelty. The main result of the research is the formation of a new didactic category – an innovative pedagogical and technological educational environment. The environment includes conceptually-targeted, infrastructural, content-based, psychological-didactic, methodological-technological and relaxation-diagnostic components, its features are the following: 1) focus on innovative training of technology teachers as directly related to the material objects of the innovative economy of the country; 2) universality in the form of the possibility of using it to solve other educational tasks; 3) graphical visualisation of the environment model with an indication of the hierarchy and interrelation of components, its scale, combinatoricity and functional sufficiency; 4) compliance of the environment with all the requirements of regulatory documents on educational activities at the university; 5) possibility of full-scale implementation of modern approaches to learning (innovative, personalised, environmental, project, etc.); 6) possibility of constant monitoring and control of the implementation of the environment within its relaxation and diagnostic component; 7) use of modern educational technologies, including digital; 8) possibility of obtaining specialised knowledge and studying other disciplines within the framework of using network learning; 9) innovativeness of the environment, determined by the novelty of the approach to teaching the teachers innovation technology and its effectiveness.

To teach innovation activity in this environment, a model of a methodological system for the formation of competence in innovation activity among future technology teachers has been created, combining conceptually-targeted, meaningful, instrumental-activity and reflexive-evaluative components. The scientific novelty of the proposed approaches lies in the fact that without violating the structure and content of the curriculum, innovative training of students is guaranteed.

Practical significance. The methodological system of research and the concept of innovation activity are concretised, its structure is developed, effective methods of training of future technology teachers for innovation activity are substantiated, and the methodology for teaching innovation activity in an innovative pedagogical and technological educational environment is developed.

Introduction. The study of the problem of school well-being and anxiety of adolescents with and without disabilities is of fundamental importance for the psychological support of the process of academic adaptation.

Aim. The present research aimed to conduct a comparative analysis of the characteristics of school well-being and school anxiety as the main indicators of academic adaptation of young adolescent schoolchildren with disabilities.

Methodology and research methods. The authors used a questionnaire aimed at identifying the main demographic indicators; the Phillips test aimed at assessing the main indicators of school anxiety: general anxiety, social stress, frustration of success, fear of self-expression, fear of testing knowledge, fear of not meeting expectations, low resistance to stress, problems in relationships with teachers; original scales for assessing indicators of school well-being, including the areas of relationships with classmates and teachers, self-assessment of educational activities, educational motivation, self-regulation of emotional states. The use of the subject approach in the study allowed the authors to identify the subject (emotional-regulatory) factors of school well-being and to determine the ways of psychological support for the academic adaptation of adolescents with disabilities. The study involved 120 primary young adolescent schoolchildren (46.7% girls, 53.3% boys) enrolled in general education schools and in schools that offer adaptive learning programmes.

Results. The authors found out that well-being indicators, which characterise interpersonal relationships, satisfaction with learning, and motivation for achievements, unpleasant physical sensations, are higher in adolescents with disabilities. The ability to be insistive and to have a differentiated attitude to lessons is an external negative motivation for learning in relatively healthy adolescents. Higher indicators of school anxiety of relatively healthy students reflect increased psychological tension in the conditions of general education schools and there is the need for special organisational and content changes in schools to create a real inclusive environment. The confirmatory model of school well-being indicators reflects three important aspects of it: “Self-organisation based on reflection”, “Ability to emotional self-regulation” and “Positive school motivation”.

Practical significance of the current research lies in the possibility of using its results to optimise the process of academic adaptation of adolescents and to specify the principles of inclusive education in accordance with the specifics of adolescents’ school well-being and school anxiety.

Introduction. The relevance of the study is associated with the need for scientific understanding of youth volunteering, deepening ideas about its educational potential, which is realised in the education system. In the context of international and national studies, it is important to evaluate the volunteer participation of the younger generation, its social effects on society. The social effectiveness of volunteering is a necessary condition, the result of educational activities organised in the educational environment. The study meets the practical request to determine the conditions for changing the qualitative characteristics of students volunteering with an active agenda of state assistance to the pro-social activity of the youth in the Russian Federation. Understanding the motivation, intentions and real opportunities for volunteer participation of high school students and students is important for improving the effectiveness of solving the task of increasing the social activity of young people, defined in the framework of the state youth policy.

Aim. The article aimed to concretise the social significance of the volunteer participation of high school students and students and to determine the conditions for overcoming the motivated refusal of youth volunteering in the educational environment in order to increase the effectiveness of its organisation.

Methodology and research methods. The methodological basis of the article is a set of theoretical ideas about the formation of social solidarity and stimulation of pro-social behaviour of young people. The theory of social participation has received a certain development in the article. The article is based on the materials of the authors’ research projects implemented in 2017–2020 in the Sverdlovsk region. Having used the questionnaire method, the authors analysed the data of a mass survey of young people in the Sverdlovsk region from 14 to 24 years old from 81 settlements of the region. A representative sample consisted of 1105 people, the error is no more than 3,5%. The sample was based on four quotas: gender, age, the main type of employment (school, college, and university) and type of city by population.

Results and scientific novelty. The study showed that while maintaining a large number of students with experience in volunteering, the number of those, who consciously refuse or doubt that they will be engaged in volunteering in their future, increases. In recent years, the number of those, who have gained volunteering experience through initiatives in educational institutions, has increased significantly. The involvement of young Uralians in social projects has decreased. The study proves that the voluntary activity of young people is a necessary condition for the accumulation of social capital in territorial communities. The involvement of schoolchildren and students in youth organisations, in socio-cultural urban life is an important and necessary condition for effective volunteer participation of young people. It was revealed that volunteer experience is directly related to student interest in public life. It is proved that high school students and students with volunteer experience and intentions to continue it are more likely to be involved in the social and political life of their city or village than those who do not have such experience.

Practical significance. In schools, colleges and universities, there is an important task of organising not only the educational process, but also educational activities. When requesting mass youth participation and the typicality of socially significant events, it is important to understand the conditions when the qualitative characteristics of volunteering by young citizens as members of the local community are being developed.