Introduction. Successful solution of the tasks of socio-economic development in the modern world is possible only in the case of effective functioning of the education system, which would provide training for a competitive personality, focused on continuous development and capable of “complying” with rapidly changing conditions of social reality. It is assumed that building an education development strategy, setting its goals and objectives should be based on the needs and problems of society, creating the basis for sustainable prosperity of the country and taking into account the needs of individual regions and territories. One of the most important mechanisms for the development of the regions of the Russian Federation remained the state educational order – officially developed task by the authorities for the creation of a specific educational product.

The aims of the present article are the following: to determine the relationship between the educational state order, the volume of investments in the education system and the level of socio-economic condition of the regions; to identify the territories, which require support.

Methodology and research methods. In the course of the study, the methods of comparative, statistical and system analysis, deduction and induction, generalisation and theoretical modelling were used. The object of the content analysis was the regional programmes for the development of education in 40 regions of the Russian Federation, covering the entire territory of Russia and reflecting the specific development of various regions depending on the remoteness of the capital, the status of the subject of the Russian Federation and the socio-economic development of the region.

Results and scientific novelty. Russian regions were classified into four groups according to the results of the analysis of regional educational development – very high, high, moderate and low. A number of general and specific problems of education in the regions were identified: the lack of a single educational space and, as a result, the heterogeneity of educational programmes; regional leaders disregard for opportunities to expand socio-economic potential of the territories through the implementation of such programmes; the gap between the financing of education and its socio-economic importance, etc. The authors conclude that state educational order at the regional level is not considered as a vector of social and economic development of the territories, and its role is reduced to an educati onal level. It is established that the rate of development of education in the Russian regions does not always depend on their key socio-economic indicators. The greatest differentiation of the trend is recorded, when comparing the rate of development of the regional education systems and the gross regional product.

Practical significance. The authors give recommendations to resolve disagreements over the formation of state education orders in the context of the socioeconomic development of regions. The need to develop regional economic development programmes, taking into account the specific social structure of the region, is emphasised. It is proposed to organise permanent social monitoring, which measures the quality of implementation of educational state order and strengthen the role of public participation when determining its content. The research materials and findings might be used by the executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, whose competence includes educational development issues.

Introduction. The main objectives of foreign policy of any state include the extension of its influence in the international arena. In the era of information and knowledge, one of the most effective tools for this task is soft power of education. In this respect, education is seen as a promising soft power instrument, which long-term character allows a country to promote not only its cultural, scientific and technological achievements, but also its cultural values and norms of social organisation. Today, universities are also seeking to strengthen their positions in global education rankings, which are used to define the status and reputation of a particular university in the global market of educational services. This ranking serves as a guide for future students and their parents, when choosing a prestigious education location and when developing individual career paths.

The aims of the present research are the following: to analyse soft power of higher education as a soft power mechanism, which allows a country to achieve and maintain leadership positions in the international arena; to specify conditi ons, factors and barriers that determine the position of universities in global ranking systems.

Methodology and research methods. The methodological framework is based on the concept of soft power and the theory of internationalisation of higher education. The empirical study was conducted following the tradition of qualitative sociological research. In 2018, a series of semi-structured interviews was conducted among Ural Federal University employees, whose responsibilities were related to the promotion of the university on the global educational market. The Ural Federal University (UrFU) can be considered representative in terms of practices aimed at attracting foreign students to the BRICS countries. In addition, UrFU is a place where the concept of a network BRICS University was realised in 2017. A total of 5 expert interviews were conducted. The collected data were analysed in the context of the World Bank statistics on the money spent by the BRICS countries on education and R&D during the 1999–2015 period (% of GDP), as well as the data provided by the QS World University Rankings – 2019 to analyse the reputation of BRICS universities.

Results and scientific novelty. The case study of Ural Federal University allowed the authors to consider the specific practices of BRICS zones for attracting foreign students. The authors analysed the specifics of actions taken by a university to promote its international leadership positions in the international space on the example of students from China. It is shown that the role of global ranking systems (institutional and faculty) in the choice of a university is steadily growing. At the same time, factors determining the attractiveness of the Ural Federal University for foreign students, in particular for Chinese students, include a reasonable level of tuition, the quality of the education and the formed ethnic social networks. For them, the Russian education is expected to be a factor in achieving a higher social status in their home countries. This demonstrates the effective role of education as a soft power instrument, although in the long-term perspective. The authors identified a number of findings concerning the barriers faced by Russian universities on the way to recognising them as global actors of higher vocational education. It is possible to enter the Top 500 best world universities; however, the task of maintaining the achieved position in global rankings is more complicated and cannot be completed without a steady increase in the performance over several years. A world-class university should attract gifted youth, qualified teachers and researchers. The reduction in the number of talented people and research results leads to the loss of geopolitical mission by the educational organisation. Inadequate funding may prevent universities from breakthrough and sustainable improvement of their reputation.

Practical significance. The research findings might be useful for managers of higher education and for strategists involved in positioning and making forecasts of educational institutions development. Also, the present findings can be applied by specialists engaged in the issues of educational policy, distribution of public investments, as well as the issues of international interaction and competition between states in order to realise national interests and support national economy in the country in the long term.

Introduction. The introduction of inclusive education into the practice of university education is a complicated and multi-aspect process accompanied by a complex of problems, including the problems of a legal nature. The solution of these problems is one of key tasks faced by the education system of Russia.

The aim of the present research is to reveal and describe normative and legal barriers in the system of inclusive higher education, withdrawing the equal rights for education for all students regardless of their physical status and health.

Methodology and research methods. The methods involve the analysis of legal and regulatory acts, regulating the orders and conditions of inclusive education at higher school. Russian and foreign literature on different aspects of inclusive education in higher school was reviewed, generalised and sistematised. The modelling method was employed.

Results. On the basis of the existing legal norms, the reflection of the analysed materials made it possible to model the system of interaction between the participants of inclusive educational process – people with disabilities (HIA) and educational organisations. The constructed “theoretical” model allowed the authors to diagnose inclusion in higher education and to identify weaknesses in the provisions, which regulate the education of people with disabilities. Certain contradictions were found in the legal field of relations between these categories of students and educational institutions. The attention is drawn to the fact that in today’s Russia the system of spesialised support for universities and for students with special needs is being formed, including resource training centres. However, these structures need to determine their place and status in the field of educational rights.

Scientific novelty. The authors firstly formulate the legal barriers, impeding the continuity of psychological medico-pedagogical support for students with disabilities. The conclusion is reached concerning the signs of discrimination in the rights of students with special educational needs and the urgent need for improved higher inclusive education, including the optimisation at the level of legislative regulation.

Practical significance. The authors believe that introduction of changes into normative regulations with the purpose to provide equal rights and opportunities for receiving education by all citizens will contribute to more dynamic and orderly development of university inclusion in Russia and will help people with health disabilities to become full members of society.

Introduction. In the context of increasing transfessionalism of labour market and growing socio-economic uncertainty, modern students, including future teachers, should not only master the chosen specialty, but also be ready for meaningful entry into the profession. This process, which does not work according to the traditional model, but implements the principles of individualisation of education, has not been studied yet in higher education. The lack of analytical information on professional self-determination implementation, what affects it and students’ perceptions of their own professionalism do not allow psychological and pedagogical preparation for the upcoming employment to be purposefully and effectively organised.

Aim. The present research is aimed at identifying the general and specific characteristics of professional self-determination of students-teachers of primary courses of undergraduate studies, while their training is organised through individual educational trajectories.

Methodology and research methods. The development of the research procedure was based on the provisions of the author’s concept of semantic mechanisms of professional self-determination, according to which the basic types of activity of the subject of the professional path are the design of the professional future, its active implementation and reflective understanding of experience. The diagnostic complex combined the assessment of students' professional self-determination through objective methods with the opinions of students themselves about the process of their professional development. Processing of the results included descriptive statistics procedures and data clustering using the K-means method.

Results and scientific novelty. Typological groups of students are identified taking into account different indicators of professional self-determination and professional identity. It has been established that there are at least four different variants of professional self-determination in the junior years of Bachelor’s programmes in Pedagogy (“positive pedagogical identity”, “teachers making choice”, “undecided” and “non-educators”). Detailed differences between these groups are presented. The parameters of differences include the formation of a personal professional plan, an emotional attitude to the profession, degrees of conscious activity, self-esteem “I am a professional”, subjective satisfaction with professional deve lopment based on the following interconnected aspects: accepted values of teaching profession, self-efficacy in solving pedagogical problems, opportunities for self-realisation and for choosing a direction and development methods, experiencing identity, understanding of own vocation, motivation for pedagogical activity. It is noted that positive respondents’ self-identification in the teaching profession is combined with high activity in the development of pedagogical experience from various sources. It is concluded that there is the need for differentiated psychopedagogical support of students taking into account the characteristics of their professional self-determination.

Practical significance. The model, previously designed by the authors to accompany professional self-determination of teachers-students, is clarified. In accordance with the results obtained, the authors make recommendations concerning the development of content and organisation of such support in the conditions of educational process individualisation.

Introduction. The change in general paradigm of education, its transition to a competent model and the permanent change in federal state standards of higher education have created the problem associated with selecting the content of course programmes studied by university students. In the field of mathematical knowledge, the problem of strengthening students’ mathematical training is particularly acute in connection with the declared task, in which mathematical analysis is central. One of the ways to solve this problem is to distinguish the invariant and variable components in the content of the university course.

The aim of the present research is to describe the content of variable components developed by the authors for the university course of mathematical analysis and to present the results of their introduction into the practice of teaching.

Methodology and research methods. The conducted research is based on the principles of continuity and systemacity of modern education, its current concepts (fundamentalisation, humanisation, humanitarisation, individualization and differentiation) and the provisions of competency-based, activity-based, personality-oriented and interdisciplinary approaches to teaching. The theoretical analysis and experiment were used as the main methods, the results of which were evaluated through empirical and praximetric methods.

Results and scientific novelty. The present study, carried out for many years at Vyatka State University, has shown that the system-forming factor of variable education, determining the means and forms of its implementation, is the variable content of education. Firstly, this particular content provides additional information on key concepts, theories and mathematical analysis, taking into account the specifics of students’ specialties, which facilitated their successful professionalism. Secondly, the variable content of education offers the possibility to systematically rethink and rapidly revise educational material, taking into account new scientific facts and discoveries. Finally, it can develop cognitive autonomy of junior students, encouraging them to carry out regular and informal research activities. The coverage of students of several mathematical directions of education, their obligatory involvement in independent research activities and support for mechanisms of interdisciplinarity and transprofessionalism ensured the scientific novelty of the research undertaken. The results of the formation of professional competencies of future graduates obtained during pedagogical measurements (questionnaires, surveys of students, observation of their educational and research achievements) confirmed the effectiveness of using the designed variable components of the discipline “Mathematical Analysis” in the learning process.

Practical significance. The research material and the authors’ conclusions described in the present article can be useful for methodologists of higher school and teachers of mathematics interested in improving the quality of mathematical training in universities.

Introduction. In many countries around the world, the increase in life expectancy leads to significant social transformations. Institutional structures, social protection policies and legislation on the life and employment of older citizens are being changed today. In Russian higher education, more than a third of professional community belongs to the group of teachers of the third (pre-retirement and retirement) age. The modernisation of this area and the raising of the retirement age will make it possible to study the peculiarities of this group of faculty members as a reserve of the vocational training system.

The aim of the present article is to characterise the adaptive potential of social community of teachers of the third age in the context of the transformation of higher education.

Methodology and research methods. The methodological framework of the article is based on the set of general scientific approaches: communal, comparative, institutional, resource. The first method provides an opportunity to consider teachers of the third age as a social community with their own specific features. The comparative approach is used to see specific features in dynamics (on the materials of official statistics) and to compare them with similar characteristics of teachers of other age groups. The institutional and resource approaches are aimed at identifying adaptive abilities of teachers of the third age against the background of current restructuring processes in higher education. The article is based on the materials of research projects conducted in 2017–2019 and on a mass survey of teachers. The general population consisted of 51 universities of the Ural Federal District. The volume of the sample of teachers is 810 people.

Results and scientific novelty. The study showed that teachers of the third age are characterised by a high level of adaptation to changes in higher education. They successfully fulfill themselves in scientific and pedagogical activities. They are characterised by relatively high publication and grant activities, realisation of new educational forms and high motivation and readiness to improve their com petencies and qualifications. At the same time, teachers of the third age estimate their social security in the professional sphere as extremely low. This community is characterised by a high level of criticality in relation to the implemented institutional changes in the field of higher education, which is based on a socially mature responsibility formed within their professional activities for the consequences of decisions taken.

Practical significance. The research undertaken demonstrates the stereotype inadequacy concerning non-adaptability of third-age university teachers to technological, content and organisational innovations. Moreover, teachers of the third age are a significant factor in the sustainable development of universities. Therefore, it is necessary to develop management models and create institutional conditions for maximum use of human capital of third-age teachers, whose peculiarities, needs and opportunities in the system of Russian higher education are inadequately taken into account today.

Introduction. The technological development of media has a growing impact on various spheres of life, including education. New technologies enhance access to information and could affect the quality of training. The term “media education” was developed. Media education implies the study of impact and the use of media (press, television, radio broadcasting, advertising, the Internet with all its applications) not only by specialists in this field, but also by ordinary consumers of information for critical perception and good application. These media tools make the static and passive learning process more dynamic and interactive inside and outside the school. In specific education (musical, theatrical, sports, etc.), educational media combined with traditional techniques also begin to be involved as the tools, which motivate students for studies. Above all, educational media provide greater opportunities to identify students’ talents, to develop their abilities and skills (e.g., language, vocal, designer, household, etc.).

The aim of the present analytical study is to diagnose the problems of carrying out professional activities and to study the needs of teachers, specialising in educational media and working in specific pre-university education systems in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Methodology and research methods. Data collection was carried out by means of a survey questionnaire that was administered to a sample consisting of 100 teachers (50 from Egypt and 50 from KSA) working at various pre-university education levels in both countries.

Results and scientific novelty. The results revealed that the major obstacles facing Egyptian teachers lied in budgetary and facilities shortage. Saudi teachers, however, were hindered by the administrative deficiency, lack of competencies in the use of the latest, constantly improving educational media and lack of in-service professional development. Moreover, all the participants reported the pivotal need to offer continuing professional in-service training opportunities for educational media and educational technology specialists. For experts in the field of educational media technologies, the advantages and benefits of this tool are obvious when conducting extra-curricular classes and activities, which allow providing more intensive intellectual development of students, as well as strengthening discipline and improving children behaviour.

Practical significance. The authors formulated the recommendations on reforming the system of specific educational services, improving their quality due to the fastest, synchronous promotion of technological innovations, implementation of modern equipment and support of teachers’ competencies at the proper level. The importance of media education development actualises the creation of academic programmes at universities for the training of qualified teachers in the field of specific education, especially for countries, which do not have the same experience of training, since media education is becoming compulsory in the contemporary world, increasingly affecting the formation of individuals, culture and society. A number of proposals have been made to continue research in this direction.