The post-industrial society gives way to the qualitatively new formation of education, integrated at its every level: integration with science and production; cooperation of different educational establishments; succession of educational levels; cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary expertise development; choice of methods, technologies and organizational forms of education and upbringing, etc. The integration and differentiation in their didactic unity reflect the complexity and contradiction of educational process, either of them dominating in certain socio-economic conditions of the given historic period.

The retrospective analysis of the above correlation regarding the natural science disciplines demonstrates the lack of theoretical and methodological bases for integration, and its accidental unsystematic character in educational processes. The main conclusion of the study is the need for the complex competence model to combine the ideas of integration and differentiation providing both the wide outlook and professional training. For overcoming the predominance of differentiated education, the author suggests adapting the concepts of post-non-classical science, and selection and structuring of educational information with the reference to the semantic universals of systematic synergetic approach.

The research findings can be used in pedagogic research methodology, educational process design and modeling, its content, technology and organization. 

The analysis carried out by the author at the junction of pedagogy and economics reveals the link between the development of educational system and labor organization in society. On this ground the educational holdings are considered to be the most adequate to the requirements of the modern labor market. The aims of educational holdings are defined along with their advantages and disadvantages. The differences between the educational holding and university complex are pointed out. According to the author, out of the three types of holding organization - regional, industrial and federal - the regional one is most likely to become the dominant innovative educational form. The results of the research analyses can be used both theoretically to study the development prospects of the professional school and practically to establish the alternative educational forms. 

The paper considers the problem of scientific pedagogic activity assessment of the higher school academic staff. The existing options of quality estimation are listed along with their deficiencies; the most acceptable in the authors’ opinion being the systematic approach. The latter allows considering almost every aspect of scientific-pedagogic activity. On that ground, the authors recommend the following success estimation criteria: gnostic, projecting, communicative, informational, and organizational. The criteria of work satisfaction and its results are taken into consideration as additional ones. The indicators of each criterion are given demonstrating that the as- sessment can be both internal (subjective) and external (objective), denoted in the normative acts.

The problem of complex and just quality assessment of scientific- pedagogic activity is quite relevant as it affects the academic staff motivation. The authors believe that the research findings can improve the objectivity of teachers’ work assessment and give way to differentiated approaches to their motivation and stimulation. 

The paper is aimed at finding the ways for stimulating the professorial teaching staff at foreign universities and the resulting effect of such stimulation on the university’s international image and prestige. This issue is especially relevant in the context of Bologna Agreement and the Russian universities entering the global education area.

The authors point out the following aspects of academic staff stimulation: material incentive, moral encouragement, improving the work environment, opportunities for professional growth, etc. In the course of the comparative analysis of foreign research materials, they single out the recruitment criteria and opportunities for career development as stimulating the academic stuff activity both in Russia and abroad; the conformities of the above processes being demonstrated.

In the conclusion the authors maintain that the social well-being of the academic staff is closely related to the university’s image. Therefore, it is recommended to balance the staff remuneration with the intangible reward package, career opportunities and flexibility in research and teaching activities. 

The paper deals with the theoretical analysis of practical training as one of the two main forms of vocational training. Industrial practice is regarded as poly-systematic, alternative existence of students entering the adults’ world, the means for developing students’ functional responsibility and subjective world outlook, etc.

The paper overcomes the existing utilitarian one-sided approach to the place and value of practice, its impact on the specialist’s professional development and opportunities for professional growth being explored. 

Regarding the practical training as psycho-pedagogical and educational phenomenon, the authors developed the theoretical and methodological bases for its designing and conducting in vocational schools. The research conclu- sions contain some heuristic innovative potential facilitating both the foundation of independent theory of practical training and organization of practice oriented training in vocational schools. 

The paper is devoted to the creative professional competence development by the technical high school students – the prospective building engineers – by means of the Engineering Graphics Olympiad. The authors in- vestigate the concepts of the creative competences, creative abilities, creative professional competences, and denote the structure of the engineering- graphic competence. Its main components, singled out by the group expert assessment, form the basis for the Olympiad content regarding its selection and major rounds. For the more argumentative selection it is recommended to provide the pedagogic expertise corresponding with the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standards and considering the students’ level. The formation levels of the competence in question are discussed along with the corresponding knowledge and skills. The authors present the brief analysis of the research outcomes and make a conclusion about the necessity of stu- dents’ additional preparatory work regarding the specificity of the engineering graphics training in the technical higher school. 

The paper maintains that for developing the educational pro- grams and technologies adequate to the different stages of students’ growth and maturity, there is a need for exploring the natural determinants of intel- lectual development as well as the students’ individual qualities affecting the cognition process.

The authors investigate the differences of the intellect manifestations with the reference to the gender principle, and analyze the correlations be- tween verbal and non-verbal components in boys and girls’ mental activity depending on their general intellect potential. The research, carried out in Si- berian State Automobile Road Academy and focused on the first year stu- dents, demonstrates the absence of gender differences in students’ general in- tellect levels; though, there are some other conformities: the male students of different intellectual levels show the same correlation coefficient of verbal and non-verbal intellect while the female ones have the same correlation only at the high intellect level.

In conclusion, the authors emphasize the need for the integral ap- proach to raising students’ mental abilities considering the close interrelation between the verbal and non-verbal component development. The teaching materials should stimulate different mental qualities by differentiating the educational process to develop students’ individual abilities. 

Nowadays, one of the urgent educational tasks includes fostering students’ capability of fast perception, processing and analyzing the large amount of data by means of modern information communication technologies. The paper presents the research findings concerning the students’ information competence development at Nizhegorodsky State Engineering Economic Insti- tute, the content and structure of the above competence being defined. 

The research is aimed at designing, substantiating and implementing the information competence model in the complex of informational and engi- neering disciplines. The given model reflects the structural components of in- formation competence, its targets and theoretical approaches, didactic pre- requisites of its formation, educational organizational forms, and formation levels. In the course of experimental research, the methods of mathematical statistics, theoretical and empirical analysis were applied. The research find- ings prove the effectiveness of the above model and its compliance with the requirements of the labor market for engineers training. 

The Federal State Educational Standards require the implementa- tion of meta-subject technologies in comprehensive schools. The research is aimed at defining the prerequisites for assimilating the above technologies, and the specif- ics of their implementation and adaptation in the primary school teaching.

The author points out the universal character of meta-subject tech- nologies regarding the different categories of children; the idea being the most relevant due to the multi-level educational integration and introduction of the inclusive teaching.

To illustrate the modeling of the meta-technology and its application to the school subjects, the author takes the philology sphere. The process of simultane- ous addressing the piece of literature and work of art creates the associative edu- cational environment raising the collective creativity and resulting in the joint intel- lectual and esthetic experience of students and teaches. The research findings demonstrate the impact of meta-disciplinary technologies on students’ cognitive activity; its positive dynamics proves the effectiveness of given technologies. 

The transition to the new educational paradigm in mathematical education is associated with the widespread introduction of information and communication technologies in education. The traditional teaching forms, methods, means and content do not seem to correspond with the new paradigm and need the theoretical reconsideration. In author’s opinion, it should be based on the post-non-classical methodology incorporating the synergetic world outlook and soft modeling ideas. The modern educational environment and network space provide the vast opportunities for self-study and self-education. However, the data perception tends to become nonlinear; and the task of the school, in this case, is to provide the nonlinear systemization of educational information through self-organized systems. The Author argues that the problem solving should remain the main activity in mathematics teaching, especially for the students of mathematical profile; the projecting activity should not dominate and prevail over the problem solving. 

The paper looks at the cross-cultural communication problems – one of the most significant educational issues, given the globalization processes and economic and scientific integration. In Hungary, the interest to learning the Russian language and culture is increasing as the way for understanding the potential international partner and strengthening the business relations between Hungary and Russia.

In author’s opinion, the unbiased information on the current situation in Russia and the history of relations between the two countries should stimulate the motivation for learning Russian as the second and third foreign language in Hungarian educational institutions.

The retrospective analysis of the above relations demonstrates both the positive and negative trends, the latter being caused by the stereotypes influenced by the certain political powers and historical events. The paper empha- sizes the reasons behind the existing prejudices and myths concerning Russia. The author believes that such misjudgments should be persuasively corrected by the experts in the Russian language and culture, and regards this task as the first priority. In conclusion, the paper provides the brief review of the recent Hungarian publications on the comparative culture studies. 

To ensure the competitiveness and integration of the Russian educational system in the global educational environment it is necessary to study the experience of the leading countries faced by the problem of creativity fostering. The paper provides the comparative analysis of the content, approaches to and organizational forms of the creative faculty formation in educational systems of the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia.

According to the author, the creative component is the inherent part of educational systems of the given countries, though its place in the system might be different. At the state level, the interest to creativity development is demonstrated by the statutory documents, official statements and legislative acts; their content reveals that both in Russia and the USA the interest to creativity fostering results from the state strategic policy, while in the UK the focus is on the economic prospects. The author mentions the centralized projects supported by the British government and aimed at stimulating creativity, though the participation of universities in the projects is optional.

The didactic and methodological materials acquired by the author have the practical implications and can be used in teachers’ training at various levels. The research materials were introduced at several Russian and International scientific conferences, discussed at seminars, round-table talks, and in the course of the International Creative Project performed by the students of Yekaterinburg and York in 2007–2013. 

The paper explores the cultural competence development in compliance with the new educational standards and regarding the pedagogic students. The above competence formation requires the complex approach and combination of both curricular and extracurricular educational forms. The research is aimed at demonstrating the opportunities of the museum teaching in the higher pedagogic schools as the effective means for developing the competence in question.

The paper denotes the concepts of cultural educational activities and regional cultural educational environment, defines the components of the cultural educational competence, and describes the authors’ teaching experience in the above competence formation related to the museum activity. The author carried out the experiment at Lesosibirsky Pedagogical Institute - the affiliate of Siberian Federal University; in the course of the History of Pedagogy and Education the students collected, explored and prepared the information for the Museum of the History of Education Development in Russia.

The method of phased planning was applied to preparation of the museum exhibition, including the organizational, research, expositional and expert stages; the traditional pedagogic research methods of observation, questionnaires, analysis, etc. were applied in the course of the experiment.

The research materials can be used by the teachers of the History of Pedagogy, heads of educational institutions and museum organizers.