The purpose of the article is to substantiate the prospects and timeliness of strengthening and accelerating for the process of technization of higher education in Russia. The status of technical knowledge in higher education is changing. During the period of the new industrial revolution, the status of engineering sciences in higher education is steadily rising. It is shown that one of the leading trends of the new industrial revolution is the complication of the structure of technical knowledge. Modern studies of the structure of technical knowledge have shown its complex and heterogeneous nature. In the article, based on the latest data, a case study of the structure of technical knowledge is carried out using the example of medical masks. The coronavirus pandemic in the context of the new industrial revolution has revealed the low level of technization of higher education in Russia. In this article it is justified that the expediency of giving for a students, at their request and choice, a technical and non-technical specialties when they study within the framework of one educational program. It is explained that the transition to a higher level of technization is based on a rational and democratic didactic principle of maximum diversity in the combination of two or more specialties during a five-year study within the framework of one educational program сonsidering the structure of technical knowledge. It is noted that the process of strengthening and accelerating the technization of higher education in Russia should not violate the human rights and discard the democratic values of modern society.