Education In Russian Universities Research Articles

Organizational and managerial context of project-based learning development in higher school

The article is devoted to the study of the organizational and managerial context of the development of project-based learning in Russian universities. The sample of the study is represented by twelve universities of different types (federal, research, reference) Volga, Ural, Siberian and Southern Federal districts. Based on the traditional analysis of official documents posted on the official websites of universities, an assessment of key aspects of university policies in the implementation of project-based student education was carried out, reflecting the development of the organizational infrastructure of the analyzed practice and forming an environment of social interaction between students, teachers, curators, employers and representatives of educational management. The development of assessment tools was based on the methodology of systemic, organizational and managerial, process, situational and temporal approaches. The purpose of the study is to analyze the organizational and managerial context of project–based education in Russian universities. It is established that the institutional practices of implementing project-based learning in the universities under study have different resource capabilities and are implemented along different trajectories that have their own logic. The study recorded that in the information space, and accordingly in the organizational and managerial environment, diversity is represented in determining the goals and effectiveness of project training. The demarcation lines in the existing organizational and managerial models are strategic forks that ensure: the mass or selectivity of project-based education in universities; orientation towards educational and/or product results; integration of project-based learning into the educational process or the implementation of students' project activities beyond their educational activities. The dependence between the organizational design of project training and its resource provision – regulatory, personnel, and information support is revealed. The scale and intensity of managerial innovations associated with the transition of the educational process to project-based learning formats are more typical for universities included in the “Priority-2030” university development program. They determine not only serious institutional and organizational changes, but also the transformation of social interaction practices in higher education.

Положение дел на кафедрах геометрического профиля

The article recalls the essence of academic subjects: descriptive geometry, drawing, engineering graphics, computer graphics and what each of these subjects is intended for. It is said about the compulsory study of geometry by students, especially those students who study in technical fields of study, about the role of descriptive geometry in the learning process and later in practical activities. Therefore, the existence of departments of geometric and graphic profile for each technical university is unconditionally necessary. It is explained that the modern disdainful attitude of the university leadership towards the departments of the geometric direction should not lead to the disappearance of these departments, since an engineer without knowledge of geometry is a fundamental underachiever, and at best an amateur. The reasons that led to the insufficiency of highly qualified specialists in the geometric and graphic profile in universities are given and, in this regard, some steps are proposed to improve the quality of engineering education. The situation of the educational process in the supposedly leading technical universities of the country, which have already got rid of the departments of the geometric direction or are on the road to this "great" achievement, is given as a negative example, as a result of which various information has been received for quite a long time about the not very favorable situation in these universities. Some measures are proposed to improve geometric education in Russian universities.

Methodological opportunities for international students acquiring content and language integrated learning in a contemporary educational environment

Russian Federation has consistently ranked among the top ten countries in the world for the number of international students enrolled in secondary and higher education institutions to pursue a specialization. In this context, one of the most crucial and pressing problems of Russian pedagogy is the high-quality education. The current system, however, does not adequately address this issue, as seen by the high number of first-year international students that are expelled each year for not comprehending certain concepts in Russian language. In this regard, the goal of the study was to identify the challenges that prohibit international students from receiving a successful education in Russian universities' junior programs and to devise solutions to these challenges. Monitoring studies were carried out with the help of international students enrolled in the RUDN University's first-year programs for bachelor's, master's, and speciality degrees in order to achieve this objective. The data acquired show that the system of pre-university education for international students has to be modernized in terms of both the Russian language and specific academic areas. Subject-language integration as a learning strategy has enormous methodological promise for raising standards and effectiveness. Content and language integrated learning has a lot of methodological promise for enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the current system. The author take into account and carefully analyze the technologies and guiding principles of this notion in relation to the duties of preparing international students for pre-university education. The theory and methodology of teaching the Russian language and specialized subjects in the Russian language to foreigners with a professional orientation are being developed by this research, which also helps to develop the conditions for maximizing the educational training of foreign students in Russian universities.

Lifelong Learning in the System of Higher Education: the State of the Problem and the Strategy of Integrating Educational Activities and Research

The authors of this article consider the current situation of lifelong learning education in leading Russian universities and define some possible strategies for integrating scientific research with educational activities. The empirical bases were: 1) statistical data on the activities of educational institutions of higher education (N = 1180), 2) dataset of monitoring the activities of universities participating in the federal academic leadership programme “Priority-2030”, 3) dataset of a survey of heads of centers for further vocational education in Russian universities (N = 450) as part of the Project “Monitoring of education markets and organizations (MEMO)”. The authors identified strategies for combining scientific and educational activities for lifelong learning programs at universities in the interests of the development of individual consumers, enterprises and branches of the national economy. The authors also found that universities take into account the social needs of society and the preferences of employers, but to a very small extent focus on transforming their scientific results into a new educational product for mass consumers. The significant focus of universities on research activities to a certain extent hinders the development and launch of new education programs, however, it is a group of research universities that demonstrates a higher cost of programs sold. The authors consider, how universities can be focused on working with the population or industry enterprises, integrating the research results into the modules of education programs, and stimulating an increase in the number of teachers combining research and teaching activities, at realizing the third University’s mission and taking into account the research grant volume.

Этнопсихологические особенности китайских студентов как фактор оптимизации учебно-педагогического взаимодействия в музыкальном вузе

Russian university education is currently very popular among Chinese citizens, who often experience various adaptation problems with academic programs for joint education of Russian and Chinese students. In such cases, effective academic process and pedagogical interaction depend on the correct understanding of the ethnopsychological characteristics of foreign students. This article reviews scientific publications on the ethnopsychological profile of Chinese students, as well as introduces relevant pedagogical strategies of academic and pedagogical interaction in teaching Chinese students that major in musical studies in Russian institutions of higher education. The author conducted a survey of Chinese students and Russian faculty members at the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University. The resulting principles of pedagogical interaction with Chinese students can facilitate the academic process in a Russian music conservatory.

Student Engagement as an Instrument of Assessing the Quality of Education in Russian Universities

The article aims at presenting the experience of using the student engagement approach, which was developed on the basis of ideas of A. Astin, R. Pace, G. Kuh, P. Ewell, E. Pascarella, P. Terenzini, to assess the quality of education in Russian universities. This approach was originally implemented in the US higher education system at the end of the XX century. Due to its simplicity and relatively low costs demanded, as well as the possibility to develop effective specific recommendations for improving the educational process, this approach came to be further applied in other countries by single universities and even at national level. However, its applicability in the systems different from the US higher education is still questionable. The article presents the basic assumptions of this approach, the history of its development and spread across the world, and its potential for assessing the quality of higher education. The author pays particular attention to the implementation of the approach in Russian universities and its limitations due to peculiarities of national context. This paper is the first to summarize the results of Russian research on student engagement. It becomes possible to make certain conclusions about the applicability of this approach to the Russian system of higher education. Moreover, the author draws conclusions on the potential to compare student engagement data collected during different time intervals in different institutions and countries. Finally, the article gives practical recommendations on how to use this approach when solving different university problems. The paper is intended for university administrators to develop effective educational policy, for professors to improve teaching practices and student-faculty interaction, for researchers to understand the landscape of studies on student engagement and to distinguish promising directions for future investigations.

Students’ Non-Participation in Volunteer Activities, or How to Effectively Organize Volunteering Education in Russian Universities

The authors’ purpose is to identify possible problematic grounds for students’ involvement in volunteer activities and to propose solutions for university management that contribute to overcoming non-participation among students. The article is based on theoretical ideas about the role of volunteering for young people, on theories describing the phenomenon of non-volunteering and its possible causes, as well as on the concepts of volunteering management in higher education. The empirical base of the research is 740 students’ poll data (all levels and years of study being included the sampling) and 12 focus group interviews taken in 2022. The results reflect the students’ volunteer activity dynamics during their studies at the university and show that the key factor determining the orientation to volunteer participation in the future is the self-identification of a student as a volunteer. We have identified three reasons for strategies to justify volunteer non-participation: utilitarian attitude to life; disappointment with the volunteer work organization that does not meet young people’s expectations; infantilism as a philosophy of being inactive. It is concluded that by increasing students’ awareness of opportunities to participate in volunteer activities and specific organizations implementing volunteer projects, the university can contribute to the growth of volunteerism among young people in the future. Using the example of educational course, the authors show how possible barriers can be overcome by teaching students the basics of volunteerism. The results of the study and the described educational experience will be interesting to researchers and can also be useful for all Russian universities in connection with the current tasks of youth policy.

Ways and prospects of development of higher inclusive education in Russia

The subject of the study is the problem of the functioning of inclusive education in Russian universities. Through the analysis of modern documents proclaiming the right of persons with disabilities to receive quality education, as well as the actual practice of introducing inclusion in the activities of universities, the author attempts to assess the level of development of higher inclusive education in Russia. The paper describes the main approaches of universities to teaching students with disabilities and with disabilities. The problems of universities that cause insufficient readiness of universities to accept and train people with disabilities are identified. The author's attention is focused on ways to overcome the identified difficulties, as well as issues of improving the process of inclusion in the activities of universities by conducting self-examination in higher education institutions for the university's readiness to teach students with disabilities. When considering materials of a legislative and legal nature, the author of the work used such research methods as analysis, description, synthesis. In order to identify the most fruitful ways of organizing an accessible educational environment for people with disabilities in universities, the method of analyzing pedagogical experience was also used. When formulating the conclusions of the study, general theoretical methods of comparison and systematization proved to be in demand. The main conclusion of the study is that Russian higher inclusive education is currently experiencing only a stage of its development, and it is too early to talk about true inclusivity in the practice of Russian universities. However, the work reflects the measures taken by universities to ensure comfortable conditions for the education of people with disabilities. Among them: the desire to expand the specialized material, technical and didactic base, the organization of psychological and pedagogical support of the category of students and teachers interacting with it. The fruitfulness of the introduction of advanced training courses for the teaching staff, the creation of resource training and methodological centers is noted. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the author of the work introduces the concept of the inclusivity index – a kind of result of self-reflection of the university's activities, which allows to indicate the degree of its readiness to accept students with disabilities.The author also presents the main components of the inclusivity index, which are necessary for clarification when compiling questionnaires for self-examination of the university.

Risk-based Regulation of Russian Universities: Risk Indicators and Their Use for State Control Purposes

The article is devoted to the identification and analysis of indicators of the risk of low-quality education in Russian universities. In 2021-2022, the approach to higher education inspections has changed significantly: accreditation monitoring has been introduced, it includes eight indicators. However, this monitoring was formed by the expert community, so the results of its testing in practice have yet to be analyzed. The purpose of this work is to identify risk factors for estimation the likelihood of violations of mandatory requirements by universities, and to develop recommendations for expanding the set of risk indicators included in accreditation monitoring. The main methods used in the work are methods of quantitative analysis, including econometric modeling. The novelty of the work is determined by the approach used: risk indicators are identified using a quantitative econometric analysis of data on the observed characteristics and results of inspections of Russian universities in 2015-2019. The results of the study indicate the possibility of supplementing the set of accreditation monitoring indicators. As additional indicators, first of all, various characteristics of research activities of universities can be used. Such a change in accreditation monitoring will increase its effectiveness as a preliminary assessment tool used in the implementation of a risk-based approach to state control. In cases where the assessment of even extended monitoring is ambiguous, the quantitative model proposed by the authors can be used.

РОЛЬ ПРОИЗВОДСТВЕННОЙ ПРАКТИКИ В ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОМ СТАНОВЛЕНИИ ВРАЧА

Health care is a key sphere of society’s life, and health indicators and life expectancy of the population depend on its condition and wellfunctioning. The article focuses on peculiarities in teaching and professional training of doctors in modern Russia. It is important to indicate that the work carried out implements the analytical task of studying exclusively the learning process at medical faculties, nevertheless, the identified trends can be partially extrapolated to all other medical specialties. It raises issues related to the level and quality of training of medical personnel in Russia. In that regard, the features of the implementation of higher medical education in Russian universities are described. In particular, the author identifies the main trends and transformations in the processes associated with obtaining the profession of a doctor. The aspects of professional training related to the implementation of clinical practice and their impact on the future career of a young doctor and his development as a specialist are analyzed separately.

Yekaterinburg Universities and SCO Countries Educational Space: Barriers and Risks

Educational interaction between Russia and the SCO countries has a long cultural and historical experience. The practice of such interaction is becoming more and more evident in obtaining more support and interest in the education system in Russia and the SCO countries. The modern social reality referring to the pandemic, changes in the geopolitical space of the world dictate new requirements for the formation of educational interaction models between the SCO countries. The trend of Russia’s refusal to participate in the Bologna process is also becoming one of the main directions of Russian educational policy. The major research objectives were to study the barriers that hinder the development of interaction between the SCOcountries in the educational space, to identify the advantages, disadvantages and problems of its implementation. The research methodology combined both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The primary data was collected using questionnaires (n= 560) and in-depth interviews (n=50). Students from the SCO countries studying at universities in Yekaterinburg (Russia) took part in the quantitative study The in-depth interviews with experts were conducted in order to identify key issues of educational interaction between the SCO countries. The research has investigated a number of barriers that prevent fruitful educational interactionbetween the universities of the SCO countries. They are as follows: objective circumstances of constantly changing geopolitical realities, technical difficulties in the implementation of educational interaction, insufficient readiness of the teaching staff to teach foreign students, financial risks, language barrier, cultural barrier, unfavourable infrastructure of universities, the specifics of educational programs and curricula. Our research has identified factors that will contribute to the development of educational interaction and overcoming barriers. They are as follows: personal factors, motivation to get education in Russian universities, the historically established cultural tradition of communication between the peoples of the SCO countries, the creation of uniform educational standards and organizations (similar to the SCO university).The study has identified barriers that prevent this interaction. They are as follows: objective circumstances of constantly changing geopolitical realities, technical difficulties in the implementation of educational interaction, insufficient readiness of the teaching staff to teach foreign students, financial risks, language barrier, cultural barrier, unfavourable infrastructure of universities, the specifics of educational programs and curricula. The study has revealed factors that promote the development of educational interaction and overcome barriers. They include: personal factors, motivation to get education in Russian universities, the historically established cultural tradition of communication between the peoples of the SCO countries,the creation of uniform educational standards, organizations (similar to the SCO university).

Mentoring in professional training of international students

Introduction. Mentoring is one of the major instruments of international students’ adaptation to getting education in Russian universities. Finding out the attitude of international students to various forms of mentoring will help their professional growth. The object of the research is to find out the opinion of Turkman students about mentors and mentees and to define the main ways to ensure individualized psychological pedagogical support of international students in Russian universities. Materials and Methods. The total number of Turkman respondents of Ryazan State University named after S. A. Yesenin who took part in the survey was 55. Empirical methods included online opinion poll of international students with the help of cloud technologies (Google Forms), participant observation method, interview. Results of the Study. The data obtained show positive attitude of Turkman students towards mentoring. To wit, 41 survey participants (75 %) gave an answer that a mentor is a university lecturer or teacher sharing their knowledge and experience with their students and supervising the whole process of learning. 8 people (15 %) consider their groupmates to be mentors, which shows potential readiness of some Turkman students for budding. Over 50 % of those who took part in the poll believe that mentors must communicate with their relatives or official representatives as it ensures their feeling of security. 45 international students (82 %) said that there should be one mentor who will supervise them during the whole period of university education, with only 10 people (18 %) considering that mentors should be different at each stage of their professional growth and development. Mentoring serves the purpose of individualized professional training of international students. Conclusion. The results of the research can profit educators to work out the strategy of further development of various forms of mentoring (group, individual, virtual) while giving professional training to international students. Besides, they will help international graduates find gainful employment. Another application of the results obtained is doing graduation research work in the form of Startup.

Pedagogical design of a digital teaching assistant in massive professional training for the digital economy

Objectives. The active digitalization of the Russian economy has resulted in a shortage of IT personnel; this is particularly true of software developers. Thus, the Russian university education is faced with the task of undertaking the large-scale professional training of such specialists. The purpose of the present work was to support the largescale (“massive”) professional training of programmers through the creation and implementation of Digital Teaching Assistant (DTA) computer system, allowing teachers working under stressful conditions to concentrate on functions that require a creative approach, namely, drawing up and discussing nontrivial programming tasks.Methods. Pedagogical methods for the personification of learning processes were employed. The general approach was based on satisfying the constraints for creating programming task generators. Tasks were generated using methods for generating random programs and data based on probabilistic context-sensitive grammars, along with translation methods using an abstract syntax tree. The declarative representation of the task generator was performed using functional programming methods, allowing the creation of a domain-specific language using combinators. The solutions were checked using automated testing methods.Results. The developed structure of the proposed DTA system was presented. Considering the automatic generation of programming tasks, classes of practical tasks that reflected the modern specifics of software development were identified along with examples of their generation. A diagram of the programming task generator was provided along with a description of the procedure for automatically checking the solutions of the tasks using a set of program tests generated by the task generator. The presented procedure for comprehensive assessment of a student’s solution included verification of the correctness of the result and plagiarism checks in the case of tasks created manually by the teacher; this also involved validation for compliance with coding style standards, along with metrics for assessing program complexity, etc. The means for recording of statistics of academic achievement of students was characterized along with the interface of interaction between students and teachers.Conclusions. The experience of introducing a DTA into the learning process of teaching programming in Python confirmed the possibility of personifying the learning process in the form of individual learning paths.

Digitalization of Higher Education During the Pandemic: Advantages and Risks

This research article presents the analysis and interpretation of the data of the authors’ study of the condition, problems and prospects of higher education digitalization at RSUH in comparison with the experience of leading foreign and Russian universities.The purpose of the article is to determine the level and features of the digitalization process of Russian higher education before, during and after the pandemic.The theoretical basis of the research is institutional and socio-cultural approaches that suggest considering the introduction of online education in the context of responding to the challenge of the formation of the digital economy and digital society. The empirical basis of the study is a survey conducted in April 2020 by the online questionnaire method, in which 327 people (representatives of the teaching staff, researchers, heads of educational departments (deans, heads of research centers), deputy heads of departments, as well as employees of deaneries, research centers and departments) took part in. Based on the generalization and interpretation of the data of the study, the authors showed that the digitalization of higher education at RSUH, as at other Russian universities, is based on the formation of an electronic information and educational environment. It appears that the evaluation of the level of access to this environment and the quality of services provided is high enough, while the effectiveness of the application needs to be improved. The introduction of electronic document management and meaningful communication with students remain the “pain points”.The causes and consequences of the impact of the pandemic on the digitalization of higher education are identified in the article. Among them: the need for new forms of student-teacher-administration communication; lack of specialized educational materials for online education; technical, methodological and psychological unpreparedness of teachers for distance education. The future belongs to mixed forms of equivalent and digital higher education. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the novelty of the comparative study of online education in Russian universities conducted by the authors (on the example of RSUH, MEPhI, NSU), as well as in the justification of the formation of hybrid (mixed) forms of higher education. Based on this study it is proposed to form a university management strategy and implement the restructuring of the educational process.

Инструменты привлечения иностранных студентов региональных вузов России в условиях интернационализации высшего образования

Nowadays the study of the analysis of internationalization of higher education in Russian universities become relevant in context of the Federal project “Export of Education”. The purpose of this analysis is to determine the level of internationalization of universities in the Ural and Siberia regions and to identify the most effective methods for attracting foreign students, taking into account regional peculiarities. The empirical basis of the analysis is a sociological survey of the heads of international services of universities of the Ural and Siberia regions. According to the results of the analysis, it is concluded that the activity of the international office of the university is an important component of the international strategy of the university. The pandemic made an impact to the processes of recruiting and transformation of methods for attracting foreign students: there is a slight decrease in the number of foreign students, the main reason was the closure of state boarders. However, universities which are situated in regions were able to transfer part of the educational services and provide them online, which allowed them to save the contingent and not lose income from international activities. The analysis revealed the influence of the regional component on the level of internationalization of the university, as well as the most effective methods for attracting foreign students in regional universities of the Urals and Siberia.

СМЫСЛОВОЕ СОДЕРЖАНИЕ ВЕЛИКОЙ ПОБЕДЫ В ФОРМИРОВАНИИ ЦЕННОСТЕЙ СТУДЕНЧЕСКОЙ МОЛОДЕЖИ

The article discusses the problem of updating the meaning content of sociological education in Russian universities. The theoretical foundations for the study of meanings were laid down by the classics of this science and developed throughout the 20th century. This article offers recommendations for planning and conducting seminars on the topic "meanings of the Great Victory", the goals of which are the development of the categories "social value", "social meaning", "social symbol", "culture", and "interethnic unity".

Educational Policy of Kazakhstan in the Context of Youth Migration

Educational migration largely determines the dynamics and nature of the country’s economic development and is viewed as a factor in increasing the country’s competitiveness and building up human capital. In this context, an increasing problem for Kazakhstan is the regulation of educational migration in the context of fierce competition in the international market of educational services.A review of publications showed that the issues of regulating educational migration from Kazakhstan are not widely covered in scientific discourse. There are practically no scientific works on the political and legal aspects of youth migration. But even if there are such publications, then, as a rule, they are devoted to the analysis of youth migration in Central Asia in general. The relevance of the study is determined by the gradual expansion of educational contacts of Kazakhstan with other countries and the need to identify the competitive advantages of foreign educational systems over the national higher education system of Kazakhstan.The purpose of the article is to consider the main motives, causes and consequences of educational migration from Kazakhstan, to analyze the activities of the authorities and ways of regulating youth migration, develop new effective methods for regulating external migration processes and provide recommendations on minimizing the risks associated with the outflow of young people from the country.In order to identify the main trends and development of educational migration from Kazakhstan, the study was carried out on the basis of collecting information through a questionnaire, as well as its detailed processing and content analysis. Kazakhstani students studying in Russia took part in the survey. The sample consisted of 183 people.As a result of the study, the main reasons for the dynamic growth of educational migration from Kazakhstan were identified, such as the high quality of education abroad, the availability of education in Russian universities, comfortable learning and living conditions for Kazakhstanis, etc. Recommendations for authorities on regulating educational migration that can be used by other countries facing the problem of the outflow of youth abroad in order to receive education. The results of this work can be useful to scientists and teachers engaged in research on various aspects of educational migration in Kazakhstan.

Best Practices of Engineering Training in World Leading Universities

The paper reviews best educational practices in engineering training provided by world leading universities. Modern landscape of engineering training and education has been viewed; expectations and needs of different stakeholders of educational process have been considered, including those of industry representatives. The main purpose of our research is to study the educational practices of the world leading universities in engineering training, to analyze educational policies and training measures supporting their realisation. There are considered the innovations in educational policies of the universities whose experience in engineering training is determined by new objectives of reforming degree programmes via integrating new technologies of active, project-based, and problem-based learning in order to develop students’ key professional competences and generic skills. The examples of curriculum planning in collaboration with employers are viewed. The university staff training integrated into real industry operating is considered. The authors’ conclusions on the changes in the current state of engineering training are presented in the form of advice, with the orientation towards prospective piloting and integration of the best practices into engineering education in Russian universities.

Specifics of Project Management of Development and Implementation of DPO Programs in Universities: Role of Educational and Scientific Centers

In the article the features of organization of the system of supplementary education in Russian universities in the conditions of modern reality are considered. Among them are the accelerating shift of professions, the concept of "long life learning", the digitalization of all spheres, including education, as well as a stable segment of the programs of professional education in the educational portfolio of a university is needed for its of sustainable competitiveness. As an example, there are proposed some perspective forms of organization of educational and scientific process which are new for the Russian practice of managing education. One of these forms could be an educational-scientific center in a university as a union of the departments and research units in the relevant subject area, structurally separated from the classical forms of faculty and completely different from it. The last one is classically managed individually, collegially or on the basis of linear-functional approach, especially in Russia. The education & science center of Management in the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics is given as an example. It is a really successful division of the university, which has a confidently leading position in the internal rating system for KPI and a stable portfolio of orders for research and vocational programs for the corporate segment, which ensures the implementation of financial plans and guarantees the sustainability of a university’s budget. The article provides generalized practical recommendations for building the processes of development, promotion and implementation of vocational programs, taking into account the differentiation by basic target groups of consumers (students), diverse technologies for their training and creating basic versions of the educational products.

Organization of higher education in context of digitalization: online learning experience at pandemic, development trends

It is highlighted in the study that digital transformations of the fourth industrial revolution are changing the modern human world, encouraging a person to acquire new competencies and become a qualified specialist in the digital economy. In connection with the progressive scientific and technical development, the institute of higher education is being transformed; new previously unknown approaches to the organization of higher education appear. One of such approaches is the introduction of online learning in higher education. The authors refer to the experience of 2020, when, during the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection, the whole world began to actively transfer work processes to a remote format, which also affected the institute of education. Universities around the world introduced distance learning using information technology, which helped students and faculty communicate at a distance. Based on the analysis, the following conclusions were drawn: digitalization of higher education in Russian universities is currently associated with the use of information and communication technologies in the educational environment and to a lesser extent with the use of electronic educational environment in the indirect interaction of students and teaching staff. In our opinion, it is necessary for the digitalization process to be consistent and not to be reduced to full distance learning, but to competently integrate information technology into the traditional learning process.