Today strategic academic activity is more and more associated with the export of knowledge and services. One of the most topical directions in the development of the higher education system is connected with the increase of the academic export potential. In this context, the trends and challenges related to the export of educational services that the present-day system of higher education faces require systematic understanding, interpretation and objectively increase the need to consider and study the prospects for more effective involvement of universities of cross-border regions into the global market of educational services. The object of the research is higher education export. The subject of the research is the problems and prospects of the export potential development in the Transbaikal State University. The objective of the research is to assess the degree of involvement of the Transbaikal State University, as the leading university in the cross-border region, in export of educational activities, to identify the main problems and to determine the prospects for more effective work of the university in this direction. The objective of the research is achieved through the solution of the following tasks: to reveal the meaning of the concept of «higher education export», to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical works on this issue, to study international activities and the practice of providing educational services to foreign students by the case of the Transbaikal State University. The research methodology of the study is based on the works of Russian and foreign scientists devoted to this issue. To analyze the effectiveness of the Transbaikal State University’s work in this direction, the author used a factor analysis that is connected with the impact of external and internal factors, objective and subjective reasons that affect the effectiveness of the export educational activities of the leading university in the cross-border Transbaikal region. To create the methodological integrity of the study, universal methods of analysis, synthesis, and generalization were used