Introduction. In recent decades, a gradual degradation of mathematics and physics training in schools and universities has begun. Obviously, this has caused a significant decrease in the quality of professional training of students in the conditions of commercialisation and continuous reforms of education, and its chaotic digitalisation. At the same time, modern mathematics and physics have become the leader of the transdisciplinary trend in the natural, engineering, and other sciences of the digital era. The transdisciplinary trend generates a universal methodology capable of solving complex multifactorial interdisciplinary problems of nature and society. As a result of the transdisciplinary trend in science, such scientific fields as cybernetics, general systems theory, catastrophe theory, synergetics, artificial intelligence, big data, etc. have emerged. All these concepts were developed on the basis of the achievements of mathematics and physics over the past 70–80 years, which gave rise to the most unique practical achievements in modern, natural, and technical sciences.

Aim. The present research aims to explore transdisciplinarity role of physical and mathematical disciplines in modern natural science and engineering education.

Methodology and research methods. The system-based approach was used to analyse the role of mathematical and physical science systems in modern education. The synergetic approach became the basis for the study of the transdisciplinary trend of these systems in historical retrospect. In the methodology of these approaches, an important role was played by the methods of students’ holistic scientific worldviews formation, including ideas about the modern picture of the world of mathematics and physics. The authors applied the methods to develop student systems thinking (with its important quality of nonlinearity), which underlies the solution of multifactorial interdisciplinary tasks of their professional activity.

Results. The results of the analysis of the transdisciplinary role of physical and mathematical disciplines indicate the fundamental importance of the unique potential of these disciplines in the natural science and engineering education in the era of the computer revolution.

Scientific novelty. The authors identified, justified and characterised transdisciplinary ideas and methods (in mathematics and physics), which bring natural and engineering sciences to a higher level of cognition, thus contributing to improving the quality of natural science and engineering training of students at universities using a computer.

Practical significance. The research materials emphasise considerable practical importance to implement a transdisciplinary approach in didactics and methods of teaching physical and mathematical disciplines in the system of natural science, and engineering education. The research findings will be of interest to educational theorists and teachers, who conduct professional training of students of natural science and engineering fields and to everyone who is interested in the prosperous future of the educational system.

 Introduction. Writing for publication has been developed for two last decades as an independent field of research to help authors publish their research articles. Starting from the assessment that preparing the publication in a journal is an academic activity that requires learning to construct the author’s positioning in the manuscript, this paper points out the shortage of professionals to assume institutional organisation of training courses in Russia.

Aim. This paper aims to suggest a framework for informal practices based on autonomy and the collective organisation of authors to construct an authorial position in the manuscript or author’s agency toward a target journal.

Methodology and research methods. Various approaches applied in this paper are based on activity theory: situated learning, Change Laboratory, and expansive learning.

A review of Russian and foreign research in writing for publication shows that only one of the three types of authorial agency, that is, transformative agency, might help the author to prepare a manuscript for publication in a target journal. The framework needed for emerging author’s transformative agency re-conceptualises the model of the Change Laboratory for situated learning that aims at the author’s socialisation in the discursive practices of a target journal. Situated learning for writing for publication is based on the principles of the Change Laboratory: collectivity; double stimulation; overcoming the contradiction by ascending from the abstract to the concrete.

Results. A framework for three cycles of expansive learning aimed at the emergence of the author’s agency toward a target journal has been developed. The first cycle allows selecting a journal and revealing its implicit rules for manuscript production. The second cycle is focused on step-by-step manuscript revisions. Finally, a change of journal and/or author whose manuscript is discussed involves the third cycle of expansive learning.

Scientific novelty. The paper considers manuscript production for publishing in a journal as an academic activity requiring deliberate training in native and foreign languages. The framework for three cycles of expansive learning in writing for publication conceptualises the publication as the author’s participation in social practices involving the journal as a discursive community.

Practical significance. The framework suggested in this paper for emerging transformative agency in writing for publication might imply an alternative to the institutional training courses. Three cycles of expansive learning aim to develop the author’s publication competence and improve the quality of research articles.

Introduction. The modern system of higher education has undergone a serious digital transformation in recent years. Electronic, blended, mobile learning is being actively introduced. However, the most significant innovative trend in modern education in recent years is blended learning, which is characterised using both traditional and digital learning technologies, which together contribute to the preservation of university traditions and the active use of modern information and communication tools in solving educational problems. The use of new models of blended learning makes higher education more accessible to all categories of not only Russian but also foreign students, stimulating their independence and increasing motivation for education based on the rich experience of their digital communication. In this regard, scientists and practitioners show increasing interest to the problem of the effective use of blended learning technologies, approaches and methods in higher education.

Aim. The present research aims to theoretically substantiate the methodology for studying the blended learning technologies effectiveness, to develop and approbate appropriate methodological tools, followed by its verification for reliability and validity.

Methodology and research methods. The problem research of the effectiveness of the blended learning technologies applied in higher education provides for the analysis of foreign and Russian science literature; systematisation and generalisation of the applied approaches; the use of modelling methods and mathematical statistics. The studying methodology of blended learning technologies effectiveness is represented by the integration of procedural, activity-based and environmental approaches in the selection and justification of three criteria for evaluation (effective, didactic, resource) and a system of their indicators in higher educational practice, which served as the theoretical basis of the developed methodology and selected methodological tools.

Results. In the course of the research, the authors formulated conceptual foundations and developed a methodology to study the effectiveness of blended learning technologies used in modern higher education. Procedural stages were defined, and evaluation tools were described. The methodology was approbated and verified for reliability and validity.

Scientific novelty. The concept and methodology of studying the blended learning technologies effectiveness is a component of quality management concept of higher education in the context of its digital transformation and its resource-didactic provision. The authors’ methodology not only reflects current trends in improving the objectivity of pedagogical assessment, but also replenishes its scientific and methodological arsenal with the addition of a multi-level system of goals, criteria and methods for determining the effectiveness of blended learning technologies in higher education.

Practical significance. A new methodology to study the blended learning technologies effectiveness in the higher education system is proposed. Based on the obtained valid data and the results of the approbation, it is concluded that the authors’ methodology has functional certainty, providing controllability in the didactic and resource support for the effective use of different models of blended learning. The practical application of the methodology will contribute to improving the quality of blended learning in higher education and the involvement of the main members of higher education (teachers and students) in the process of designing and selecting traditional and digital technologies to ensure its effectiveness.

 Introduction. On the example of a technical university, the article presents a comparative analysis of assessments of key difficulties identified among the faculty during the transition to distance learning in the spring of 2020 and 2022 throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors identified trigger challenges, which do not lose relevance in the context of the recurrence of a pandemic (and not only) and a person’s ability to adapt to the situation. Generalised recommendations are proposed to compensate for the influence of socio-psychological and communicative barriers to improve the quality of teaching activities of the faculty mediated by information and communication technologies.

Aim. The presents paper aims at conducting a comparative analysis to assess key challenges, which are determined by the human factor and affect the implementation of the educational process by the lecturers during distant work with students.

Methodology and research methods. The analysis was carried out during spring semesters 2020 and 2022 amid the realisation of forced distance learning. The authors used the methods of scientific and theoretical analysis, synthesis; empirical collection of a dataset of 2 cross-sectional studies using a questionnaire, the C. Rogers & R. Diamond SPA test, and the social stratification level test. Two respondent pools included 307 lecturers from Tomsk Polytechnic University. The results were processed by comparative analysis and using the SPSS 26.0 statistical package program for social sciences.

Results. The comparative analysis of the results in two pools showed that the key challenges were: 1) socio-psychological challenges associated with frustration, the challenge for adapting to the remote implementation of the educational process due to the certain disorientation and unprepared teachers; 2) communicative barriers related to the complexity of keeping students’ attention and reducing the quality of materials, the necessity for lecturers to have special communicative skills that meet the conditions of remote work (linguistic, subject, discursive, pragmatic, socio-cultural, technical), and supraprofessional competencies necessary when working in conditions different from traditional methods of teaching. It is concluded that the prerequisites for successful distance learning are determined by the presence of digital educational platforms and hardware resources for their implementation, and by the socio-psychological training of the faculty. In this regard, the authors made the recommendations on the organisation of consistent systematic work by the university personnel service in terms of organising teacher training in the specifics to work in a remote format from the point of view of not only technological (acquisition of skills to develop electronic courses, introduce types of tasks focused on interactive, group collaboration, gamification elements, fractional materials and their visualisation, etc.), but also the psychological acceptance of the situation, the development of emotional competence, adaptability, socio-psychological stability, as well as the improvement of communicative competence that meets today’s challenges.

Scientific novelty and practical significance. The comparative analysis in dynamics revealed that the socio-psychological and communication barriers do not lose significance and influence on the lecturers, despite the repeatability of situations associated with a sharp transition in the implementation of the educational process from the traditional to the remote format. There is, therefore, a need for comprehensive work of the university HR service to compensate for the identified difficulties and build a trajectory for the consistent preparation of the faculty for the likely repetition of the situation with the forced distance learning, since the risk of its repetition due to a pandemic, a change in geopolitical or other conditions, is high enough. The implementation of the proposed recommendations for building a vector of readiness for remote work will reduce the negative socio-psychological impact of stressors and improve the quality of the educational process.

Introduction. The formation of professional plans by student youth is going on under the influence of significant others. The circle of significant others is suffering profound transformations in the conditions of changing cyber-technological paradigm, overflowing traditional family circle, friends, school masters (mentors), and needs clarification. The orientation and intensity of the impact of significant others on the modern educated youth’s professional planning are not sufficiently studied. Solving the task of staff renewal in the Russian scientific sphere shows the necessity to reveal the roles of significant others in Russian students’ and postgraduates’ readiness to build a scientific career.

Aim. In this research, the significant other is a really existing or imaginary person, who significantly influences student professional path planning, when a student identifies himself/herself with the significant other. The present research aims to reveal significant others, who influence professional plans of Russian students and postgraduates, and to establish the nature of its impact; to elicit the role of significant others in the students’ and postgraduates’ readiness to build a scientific career.

Methodology and research methods. A three-part questionnaire was applied to collect data. In the first part, general information about the respondents was collected. The second part included three stages, which allowed the authors to identify three significant others, who influenced the respondents’ professional plans, as well as to discover the nature of this influence. In the third part, the respondents reported about their readiness to build a scientific career. Primary data processing was carried out with the help of content-analysis. Secondary data processing involved descriptive statistics methods, non-parametric Pearson test, χ2, qualitative analysis. 1026 young people aged from 17 to 35, whose average age was 21, took part in the investigation. There were 951 students and 75 postgraduates from 10 Russian universities.

Results. It was established that significant others influence the respondents’ professional plans positively, neutrally and negatively. The positive impact prevails sharply over the neutral and negative ones. Over one-third of the students and postgraduates find it difficult to identify significant others. Among the significant others, there are both real people, who live now or have lived in the past, and imaginary characters. The real significant others can be subdivided into two groups: distant and close community. The role of significant other from distant community predominates over the influence of close community representatives.

Scientific novelty. The authors designed the empirical model of significant others influencing the professional path planning. It was revealed that the students and postgraduates, who are not ready to become scientists, less often plan their professional paths under the influence of significant others from scientists and discoverers, than the other respondents. The hierarchical structures of students’ and postgraduates’ significant others have different readiness levels (from five to seven) to build a scientific career and have various component composition. In addition, a higher rank of scientists and discoverers as significant others in the sampling of future scientists should be noted.

Practical significance. The obtained results, which deepen the understanding of the mechanism of professional identification and career decision-making, can be used in the practice of professional orientation and career counselling for young people. Since most students and postgraduates have difficulties in building professional plans or identify themselves with fictional characters or people involved in the public spheres like culture, art and mass media, the right choice of content and channels of professional propaganda can encourage young people to get a higher education and choose educational areas that are socially significant for the country.

 Introduction. This study was conducted to identify the factors that influence user satisfaction to determine the quality of the website (online system) for quality assurance in vocational education from the user’s point of view and to provide the best recommendations for improving the quality of the vocational school quality assurance online system.

Aim. This study aims to analyse the quality of the vocational school quality assurance website that affects user satisfaction using the WebQual model.

Methodology and research methods. This research used structural equation modelling – partial least square (PLS-SEM) analysis. The purposive sampling technique was chosen to determine the sample of respondents from operators or users of the quality assurance website from 36 vocational schools in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia.

Results. Based on the analysis results, it was found that the service interaction quality factor significantly influenced the e-service quality of the vocational school website for quality assurance, which then directly affected website user satisfaction.

Practical significance. This research has implications for developing vocational school website for quality assurance to optimise the website function. This research also has implications for schools to facilitate performance reporting through quality assurance website.

 Introduction. The COVID-19 pandemic, which spread widely around the world at the beginning of 2020, has seriously affected the educational sphere as a whole. Under the influence of the pandemic, the psychology of young people, their value orientations, thoughts about the future, their well-being and behaviour are changing. R. Inglehart notes that this process is heterogeneous and manifests itself in different ways in different countries of the world. In developed countries with a predominance of values of self-expression and secular-rational values, the pandemic has affected more painfully than in developing countries with traditional values and values of survival. This study presents how the pandemic affected the values of student youth in Kazakhstan, a country that, according to R. Inglehart’s map of cultural values, occupies a more neutral position. And also it was analysed whether the trends in Kazakhstan correlate with global ones.

Aim. The present research aims to identify how the pandemic has affected the value orientations of students in Kazakhstan and other countries around the world. The main hypothesis, derived by analogy with other countries of the world, is the assertion that the pandemic has led to widespread depressions among Kazakh youth, shaking their life values and the importance of education.

Methodology and research methods. The theoretical and methodological basis of the article was the research of R. Inglehart and C. Welzel, devoted to the problems of values, including in the conditions of the pandemic crisis. The survey method was also used. It was conducted on the basis of a sample formed: one thousand full-time university students from 17 regions of Kazakhstan (three megacities and 14 regions). A questionnaire containing 13 key questions concerning the values of young people, their prospects for the future, fears and anxieties, and the quality of education was used.

Results. The results of this study and their comparison with similar surveys in other countries of the world allowed the authors to conclude that Kazakh students in general are experiencing the same negative consequences of the pandemic as their peers from other countries. However, in matters of life goals, educational values, career prospects and general well-being, Kazakhstani students show great resilience and a positive attitude. Based on R. Inglehart’s position, this happened due to the low economic development of the country, which, according to his system of values, is classified as developing countries with a strong traditional way of life and the predominance of survival values.

Scientific novelty. The article for the first time attempts to analyse the values of Kazakh students through the prism of the concept of R. Inglehart and C. Welzel, and also shows the impact of the pandemic on the well-being, quality of education and value orientations of young people in Kazakhstan and other countries of the world.

Practical significance. The materials of the article can be used to develop new approaches to teaching/educating students, taking into account the impact of the pandemic, the deterioration of the well-being of students and the crisis of values. This study reveals the specifics of these processes in Kazakhstan, one of the post-Soviet countries belonging to developing, traditional countries.