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educational services market research methodology

types of consumer behavior

market segments

university development strategic plan

1. Balaeva O.N., Titova N.L. Improving the processes of developing and making management decisions in higher educational institutions: research scheme // University management: practice and analysis. - 2004. - No. 4. - P. 28-36.

2. Ishchuk T.L. Features of strategic planning in higher education. // Economics. - 2009. -№3. - P.157-162.

3. Development strategies of Russian universities: responses to new challenges / Under scientific. ed. N.L. Titova. - M.: MAX PRESS - 2008. - 668 p.

4. Suleymanov N.T. Innovative model of strategic management of a university. Bulletin of the Bashkir University. - 2008. - T.13. - No. 3. - P.131-137.

5. Alexanra L. Lerner. A Strategic Planning Primer for Higher Education February, 06th 2010 // www.educause.edu.

6. Herbert A. Simon. Economics and Management Research //www.psy.cmu.edu/psy/.../hsimon/hsimon.html.

7. Hemmond John. Practical guidance on more effective decisions of Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999 // www.referenceforbusiness.com.

8. Joseph Beckham. Responsibilities duties decision-making and legal basis for local school board powers //education.stateuniversity.com.

9. Official website of the governor and government of the Belgorod region [Electronic resource]: Official website of the governor and government of the Belgorod region URL: http://www.belregion.ru

Modern conditions for the functioning of universities are characterized by increased instability, increasing uncertainty in the external environment, reduced budget funding, and increased competition in the educational services market. An important tool for the successful operation of a university, according to the majority of Russian scientists, can be the use of strategic planning. Most experts note the fragmented nature of the university’s existing strategic plans, insufficient adaptation of strategies to changing market conditions, focus on solving primarily internal problems, and poor interaction with consumers of educational services. To improve the university activity planning system, in our opinion, it is necessary to more actively use marketing tools for making management decisions.

The most important marketing tool for making management decisions at a university is marketing research of the educational services market. To integrate information at the analytical stage of developing a strategic plan for the development of a university, it is necessary to supplement the existing few research methods of the educational services market with an analysis of the behavior and factors influencing the decisions of two market entities - consumers and buyers of educational services (Fig. 1).

Rice. 1. Methodology for researching the educational services market

Our proposed methodology for studying the educational services market includes several stages.

1) At the first stage of the research, a marketing research concept is developed, which is a document that reflects the main idea of ​​the research. The concept should justify the relevance of the research, define the purpose and objectives, the object and subject of the research, and indicate the timing of the research. The choice and justification of methods and information support for the study are of utmost importance. Based on the research concept, a marketing research program is developed.

2) At the second stage, according to the research concept, it is necessary to analyze the market for educational services: assess the size of the market, its capacity, “company” structure, the level and severity of competition, and determine the main trends in market development. The task of a comprehensive study of the educational services market is to obtain comprehensive information about the market, its characteristics and development trends. An important stage of the research can be an expert survey, which will allow not only from the subjective, but also from the objective side, to analyze the factors that influence the situation in the educational services market, the prospects for its development, consumer and purchasing behavior in this market. Heads of universities, workers in the field of education, regional youth policy, etc. can act as experts.

3) At the third stage of the study, it is necessary to analyze the behavior of consumers of educational services: life goals, interests, assessments, desires, motives of behavior, preferences and aspirations associated with their internal value system. By studying its consumers, their desires, preferences, a university can offer them exactly what they need and do it better than competitors. The main task in studying consumers is to identify factors influencing their behavior and analyze models of consumer behavior (the process and motives for making decisions about choosing an educational service).

In order to successfully compete in the educational services market, university management needs to timely anticipate changes in consumer preferences in order to make timely changes, if not to the educational program, then to the equipment of the educational process, to the organization of consumer leisure, etc. This information is especially important for developing the university’s communication and pricing policies and for building a brand. When creating an advertising message and developing promotional activities, you need to clearly know what is valuable and important for consumers.

In most markets where less valuable acquisitions are involved, or where the consumer and buyer may be one and the same, this information may be sufficient to make informed management decisions. In the educational services market, it is necessary to analyze the behavior of another target audience - buyers of educational services. Studying customers is one of the most important types of research, because it is they who, by influencing the consumer’s choice and purchasing an educational service, bring the main profit to the university. Therefore, it is the buyer who is the focus of attention of any successful company, regardless of its size and specifics of activity. To develop a reasonable plan for the development of a university, it is necessary to segment buyers of educational services and identify the most attractive segments for positioning. It is necessary to evaluate the degree of influence of various factors at the stages of the purchase decision-making process. Analyze price and other customer expectations.

4) Based on data analysis, it is necessary to draw up a detailed portrait of the consumer of educational services, to highlight the types and factors of consumer behavior in the educational services market. The result of the analysis of purchasing behavior should be the segmentation of buyers and the assessment of factors of purchasing behavior in the market.

5) The final stage of the research is the development of recommendations for drawing up a strategic plan for the development of the university. Also at this stage it is necessary to analyze the research conducted, the difficulties and errors encountered, and develop recommendations for subsequent marketing research.

The analysis of the state of the educational services market in the Belgorod region over the past ten years has made it possible to identify the main trends in the development of this market:

1. The market for educational services in the Belgorod region is represented by a set of educational institutions of primary, secondary and higher professional education. The activities of all institutions are interconnected to a certain extent: consumers of primary vocational education can later become consumers of secondary and higher vocational education.
2. The potential demand for educational services in the Belgorod region is 346,155 people, but this figure is steadily declining. This is due to a decline in the birth rate, especially in the period from 1993 to 2002; the lowest figures date back to 1999. The level of migration cannot significantly improve the situation, since the rate of emigration is quite high. An obvious imbalance in this market, against the backdrop of a stable decline in demand, is an increase in supply. According to statistics, the supply on the educational services market in the Belgorod region in 2009 amounted to 94,517 people. From 2000 to 2009, market supply increased by 34%. The value equivalent to market supply is the capacity of the educational services market in the Belgorod region. In value terms, according to statistical data, the capacity of the educational services market in the Belgorod region is 1731242363.41 rubles.
3. The reduction in market capacity leads to a tougher competitive environment, which is especially evident in the sector of higher professional education. This is also due to the growth in the number of non-state universities. An analysis of the competitive environment of the Belgorod region made it possible to evaluate it according to two main indicators: the material and technical base of the university (the presence of its own area equipped for the educational process) and the number of students. In terms of the material and technical base of universities in the Belgorod region, the educational services market is characterized as moderately concentrated. The Herfindahl-Hirschman market concentration index (HHI) in 2009 was 1824.35, which confirms the value of the market concentration coefficient CR3 and shows that market concentration was significantly influenced by the increase in educational space. The calculation of market concentration depending on the number of students at universities in the Belgorod region was: CR - 25.89%, HHI - 351.64. The market for educational services in the Belgorod region is moderately concentrated in terms of the number of students.
4. An analysis of the portfolios of educational services of market participants in the Belgorod region showed that the most popular specialties in primary vocational education were working specialties in mining, manufacturing (32.8%), agriculture (11.8%), and construction (18. 0%), in transport and communications (7.9%). In the structure of training of mid-level specialists, the largest share is made up of economic specialties (economics and accounting, finance, banking, management, merchandising, insurance, as well as medical and pedagogical specialties). In higher professional education, the most in demand are economics, engineering and technology, health care, automation and management.
5. There is a noticeable gender difference in the choice of specialties, which is especially noticeable when choosing a profession in secondary and higher education. Thus, among students in the fields of education, healthcare, culture and art, economics and management, women accounted for 74-80%. Men predominate (79-92%) among students receiving higher and secondary engineering and technical education in the following specialties: vehicles, geology, exploration and development of mineral resources, energy, power engineering and electrical engineering, metallurgy, mechanical engineering and materials processing, automation and control, Information Security.
6. In the labor market, graduates with primary and higher vocational education are in greater demand than those with secondary vocational education. Almost all graduates who have received primary vocational education are employed (up to 65%), approximately 20% continue further education, and about 15% are called up for military service. Up to 50% of graduates of secondary vocational educational institutions are employed in their specialty and about 40% continue their studies at higher educational institutions, approximately 10% are drafted into the Armed Forces. Up to 90% of graduates of higher educational institutions receive job assignments, but many (up to 30%, including those who received assignments) prefer to find a job on their own.
7. We can highlight the most popular specialties in the labor market. In primary vocational education - working specialties for work in mining, manufacturing, agriculture, construction and transport and communications. In secondary vocational education - automation and control, culture and art, education and pedagogy, economics and management, construction and architecture, vehicles. In higher professional education, the most popular specialties in the labor market are metallurgy, mechanical engineering, materials processing, vehicles, information science and computer technology, instrument engineering and optics, automation and control, construction and architecture, education and pedagogy, culture and art, energy, power engineering and electrical engineering (Table 1).
8. The paid education sector is constantly growing. This trend is especially noticeable in higher education. Expanding the scope of training specialists on a paid basis in state universities, in addition to the admission plan provided by budget funding, is associated with the desire to fill the missing budget funds. In addition, in an effort to adapt to market conditions, in pursuit of market demand for certain specialties in short supply, universities provide training in non-core specialties (economists, lawyers, managers, etc.). Thus, in the 2000/01 academic year, 54.2% of students studied at universities for a fee, and in the 2009/10 academic year - 64.9%.

Approbation of the methodology using the example of the Belgorod region made it possible to identify qualitatively different and non-overlapping types of consumer behavior and customer segments in the educational services market. As a result of processing the results of the survey and expert assessments using specialized programs SPSS and Marketing Analytic, the following types of consumer behavior were identified.

Emotional behavior. The basis of decision making is emotions and experiences. Needs are formed situationally; their formation is influenced by a large number of random factors, starting with personal experiences and ending with a random coincidence of circumstances. This behavior is the worst to predict, but the easiest to influence from the university. Rational behavior. The basis for decision-making is rational calculation, comparison of possible benefits and failures. Needs are formed consciously; a large number of factors are taken into account, starting with the location of the university and ending with the possibility of subsequent employment. This behavior is easily predicted, but can be slightly corrected using market tools to influence consumers.

Table 1. Employment of graduates of specialists from state and municipal higher educational institutions by groups of specialties and areas

Employed specialists - total
including:
by groups of specialties
physical and mathematical sciences
natural Sciences
humanitarian sciences
Social sciencies
education and pedagogy
healthcare
Culture and art
economics and Management
Information Security
service sector
agriculture and fisheries
geodesy and land management
geology, exploration and development of mineral resources
energy, power engineering and electrical engineering
metallurgy, mechanical engineering and materials processing
vehicles
instrumentation and optics
electronic engineering, radio engineering and communications
automation and control
Informatics and Computer Science
chemical and biotechnology
food and consumer products technology
construction and architecture
life safety, environmental management and environmental protection

Stereotypical behavior. The basis for decision making is consumer habits and behavioral stereotypes. The needs for choosing an educational service are formed gradually, as needed. The main factors of consumer choice are the prestige of the educational institution, the atmosphere in the learning process and price.

Using cluster analysis, the following segments of buyers of educational services were identified, reacting equally to methods of marketing influence. "Affective" market segment(46% of the sample). The average age of buyers is 36 years. The majority of buyers are women (57%). The decision-making process regarding choosing an educational service is based on desires and emotions. Factors of behavior: sociocultural (values ​​and norms, traditions, including professional ones, accepted in the family), marketing (a wide choice of specialties and a prestigious brand of the university), situational (location of the university, presence of a certain specialty). The most important factor in choosing is the high prestige of the educational institution. The price is not significant. "Traditional" market segment(32% of the sample). The average age of buyers of educational services is 47 years. The basis for making decisions about choosing a specialty and educational institution are values ​​and traditions, often passed on from generation to generation. Behavior factors: sociocultural (values ​​and norms, traditions, including professional ones, accepted in the family), economic (tuition price) and marketing (university brand). The most important factors of choice are the breadth and quality of educational services provided by the university. Buyers are committed to further consumer career growth. Price is more important than in the first segment. "Targeted" market segment(22% of the sample). The average age in this segment is 54 years. The basis for making a decision on choosing a specialty and educational institution is a reasonable calculation, a comparison of one’s own capabilities and market demands. Behavioral factors: economic (tuition price), demographic (gender, age, family composition) and marketing (university brand, prestige of specialties). The most important factor in the choice is the quality of the educational services provided and the social policy of the university. Buyers are committed to profitable employment and further career growth of consumers.

Thus, the analysis of consumer and purchasing behavior showed that:

1. The success of modeling the behavior of consumers and buyers of educational services is largely determined by an understanding of how the process of choosing an educational service is carried out in a highly competitive environment in a given market. Factors of both purchasing and consumer behavior should form the basis for developing a strategic plan for the development of a university and making management decisions.
2. The motives for consumer and purchasing behavior, as well as the factors influencing the choice of educational service and university, differ from each other. Consumers of educational services (applicants and students) are a reference group that directly influences buyer behavior. Consumers of educational services are largely influenced by psychological (abilities, inclinations, motives of behavior, lifestyle) and situational (choice and opinion of friends, fashion for certain professions, location of the university) factors in making a purchase decision. Buyers are influenced by economic (income level, material capabilities) and sociocultural (social class, norms, values, traditions, including professional) factors. The influence of demographic (age, gender, family composition) and marketing (university brand, prestige of the chosen specialty, additional services in the learning process: availability of budget places, places in a dormitory, etc.) factors on both consumers and buyers is almost the same.
3. Based on the conducted research, three types of consumer behavior were identified in the educational services market of the Belgorod region: emotional, rational, stereotypical; as well as three significant buyer segments in the market: affective, traditional and goal-oriented. These groups of consumers and buyers react equally to methods of marketing influence: price, quality of service, advertising, therefore, for each of them it is necessary to develop a set of appropriate university policies.
4. To achieve the strategic goals of the university, taking into account the factors of purchasing and consumer behavior, special attention must be paid to communication and pricing policies. The formation and strengthening of the university brand is of utmost importance.

Reviewers:

• Anichin V.L., Doctor of Economics, Professor of the Department of Organization and Management of the Belgorod State Agricultural Academy named after V.Ya. Gorina, Belgorod.
• Rozdolskaya I.V., Doctor of Economics, Professor of the Department of Marketing and Management of the ANO VPO Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law, Belgorod.

Work received 12/01/2011.

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Bibliographic link

Pryadko S.N. RESEARCH OF THE MARKET OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES AS A MARKETING INSTRUMENT FOR MAKING PLANNING DECISIONS IN A UNIVERSITY // Modern problems of science and education. – 2011. – No. 6.;
URL: http://science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=5093 (access date: 02/01/2020). We bring to your attention magazines published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural Sciences"

Education is an important sphere of society, which should be a priority in the development of the state, as it ensures the social stability of the country, its national security, competitiveness and economic growth. The state's goal in the field of education is to increase its accessibility in a modernized economy. Today, the state in the field of education faces the tasks of ensuring the availability of high-quality general education, improving the quality of vocational education, developing a modern system of continuous professional education, as well as increasing the investment attractiveness of the education sector. Marketing in the field of education plays a very significant role in a market economy, as it helps to create and develop demand for goods and services, optimize their supply, develop and implement the most effective strategies for the activities of market participants. The Constitution and Law of the Russian Federation “On Education” proclaim the priority of the education sector, which is one of the most rapidly growing and promising areas of the economy. Any educational institution is faced with the task of finding new approaches to solving complex economic problems, for example, such as increasing the efficiency of using the institution’s funds, searching for new sources of financing, and mainly, improving the activities of educational institutions in general. In the context of limited public resources allocated for education, a lack of sponsorships for the introduction of new programs, as well as a noticeable trend towards the emergence of alternative educational institutions, marketing helps educational institutions take their place in the educational services market, cultivating the special mission of each educational institution

The specificity of marketing educational services is partially manifested as the specificity of services as such, and partially as the specificity of scientific and intellectual services. The need to systematize information about the market for educational services lies in the fact that earlier in economic theory certain provisions were considered that determined the content of the education market and its features. Taking into account the classification of commodity markets, the market for educational services is an integral part of the market for goods of spiritual production, which in turn is a type of commodity market. The market for educational services is a type of product market, and its main element is the educational service. A service is a special form of product offered to the market and consists of an activity that benefits the consumer by satisfying his needs. According to F. Kotler, a service should be understood as a variety of activities and commercial activities. Services have the following features: intangibility, inseparability from the source, variability of quality, unstorability. In the system of the educational services market, the conventional image of a product acting in the form of an educational service is transformed. Let us consider in more detail the properties of educational services (see Table 1).

Educational services are the result of the useful activities of various types of educational institutions (preschool, general education, primary, secondary, higher and postgraduate education institutions), as well as subjects of the educational sphere, aimed at meeting the needs of the population and society.

Table 1- Main characteristics of educational services in relation to

education

Service property	Characteristic
Intangibility	An educational service is intangible; it cannot be seen, tried, or heard until it is purchased. The student will not be able to see the result, much less evaluate the quality of the educational service, until he enters an educational institution and completes it.
Inseparability from the source	A service cannot be separated from its source, while a product in material form exists regardless of the presence or absence of its source. In relation to educational services, the service is the transfer of new knowledge. Without the presence of pupils or students, the teacher/instructor cannot provide the service.
Impermanence quality	The quality of educational services varies widely depending on the conditions, time and place of its provision. The variability of service quality is explained by the presence of the human factor. The educational service depends on the character traits of the teaching staff, their qualifications, as well as information and technical support for the educational process.
Non-storability	The educational service cannot be saved for further use. The non-preservation of educational services is due to the fact that a person simply forgets the information received over time, and knowledge gradually becomes outdated and becomes less relevant due to scientific, technical and social progress.

Education is a leading sector of the social sphere, influencing the quality of life of individuals and society. Both public educational institutions and private ones provide educational services. It should be noted that due to the unfavorable demographic situation in the country, which led to a sharp decrease in the number of applicants, there was increased competition in the educational services market (see Table 2). On the one hand, in three age groups (from 0 to 4 years; from 5 to 9 years; from 10 to 14 years) positive dynamics have been observed over the last five years. However, for the period under review 2011-2016. in the age group from 15 to 19 years, a decrease in numbers is observed every year. The maximum decrease in the number of potential students (by 7.36%) occurred in 2012, when their number decreased by 606 thousand people. compared to the previous year. Under these conditions, competition between educational institutions for potential consumers is intensifying.

Studying the market for educational services is one of the priority areas of marketing activity. It includes market segmentation, market analysis, identification of competitors and other elements. The main objects of segmentation are the educational services themselves, consumers and organizations providing these services.

According to Rosstat, in 2016 there was a process of improving the higher education system in the Russian Federation, which was aimed at increasing the efficiency of organizations engaged in educational activities, as well as improving the educational system by consolidating (merging) educational organizations in order to optimize budget expenses. Analyzing the state of the Russian market of educational services of higher education in the sector of public and private organizations, it should be noted that the total number of educational institutions for the period from 2011 to the present has decreased by 17%, and the decrease in the number of educational institutions occurred in both public and non-state sectors (see Table 3). Thus, the total number of educational organizations of higher education in 2016 compared to 2015 decreased by 5.6% (or by 54 units): the number of state and municipal educational organizations of higher education decreased by 3.3% (by 18 units) ; number of operating private educational institutions of higher education - by

9% (for 36 units). There was also a further decrease in the number of students in higher education institutions. Thus, compared to 2015, the number of students decreased by 442.5 thousand people, and a significant reduction in the number occurred in private educational organizations (by 12.25% of the number of students in 2015). The unification of professional educational organizations that train skilled workers and employees with professional organizations that train mid-level specialists continued. In 2016, the number of professional educational organizations carrying out educational activities under secondary vocational education programs decreased by 3.1% (or by 112 units) and amounted to 3,526 organizations.

Depending on the level of standardization, markets for homogeneous educational services should be distinguished (these include educational institutions that train specialists in a certain field of activity); markets for differentiated educational services, where training services for a variety of specialties are concentrated in one educational institution.

Based on the timing of the provision of educational services, it is customary to distinguish the market for long-term educational programs - obtaining additional and higher professional education (from 6 months to 6 years); market for medium-term educational programs (from 1 to 6 months); the market for short-term educational programs provided by faculties and institutes of advanced training (various seminars, courses for a period of 1 day to 1 month).

There is also a segmentation of the educational services market depending on its capacity. Identify a potential market (a set of consumers who are interested in the market offer of the educational institution); accessible market (a set of consumers who are not only interested in a specific offer, but also have the opportunity to purchase an educational service); the served market (the part of the available market where the educational institution makes efforts to attract and serve consumers); actual market (a set of consumers who have already purchased a specific educational service).

table 2- Population by age groups 2011-2016, thousand people.

Age, years:	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
rate of increase V% to previous year
growth rate in% compared to previous year
growth rate in% compared to previous year
growth rate in% compared to previous year

Source:

Table 3 - Educational organizations of higher education at the beginning of the 2011-2016 academic year.

Academic year	educational organizations	growth,	students - total thousand people	growth,
State and municipal educational organizations of higher education
Private educational organizations of higher education

Source: compiled according to Rosstat data: http://www.gks.ru

Segmentation of the educational services market by territorial basis is important. Thus, it is possible to identify urban, regional (regional), regional, national and international sectors of educational markets, each of which has a clear spatial limitation. Conventionally, the primary element of this system is the urban educational market, which means the sphere of exchange of services limited by the territorial boundaries of the city. The national market is limited by state borders. The international market covers foreign consumers of educational services. The services presented on this market include international educational programs for the exchange of students and teachers, joint training, etc. The international market has been developing very dynamically over the last decade. Thus, the number of foreign students in Russia has been growing steadily since the beginning of 2013. In the 2015-2016 academic year. As of the beginning of the year, 242.5 thousand people were undergoing training in the Russian Federation. within the framework of academic exchanges with foreign universities.

Table 4 - The number of foreign students studying in educational institutions of higher education in the Russian Federation

The largest group of people receiving education in domestic higher schools were people from the former Soviet republics; their number in the 2015-2016 academic year was. amounted to 188.1 thousand people, which is 77.6% of the total number of foreign citizens (see Fig. 1). The largest contingent of foreign citizens using the educational services of Russian universities on a full-time basis were citizens of Kazakhstan in the 2015-2016 academic year. Uzbekistan took second place, followed by Turkmenistan, Ukraine and China.

Rice. 1

It is also possible to divide the markets for educational services into sectors depending on the federal districts (Central, Northwestern, Southern, North Caucasian, Volga, Ural, Siberian, Far Eastern and Crimean).

We see that in the districts, as well as in the country as a whole, there is a decrease in the number of students in higher education programs, which once again proves that there is increasing competition between educational institutions for potential consumers. The district with the largest number of students is the Central Federal District. As of the beginning of 2015, 1,455.3 thousand people were studying in higher education programs, but for the entire period under review, 2013-2015. Every year there is a steady decrease in numbers (see Table 5). This decrease is due to the fact that since the beginning of 2010 there has been an annual decrease in the population in the age group of potential students throughout the country. The most unfavorable situation in 2015 was in the North Caucasus and Far Eastern districts, where a decrease in the number of people was recorded by 38 thousand people and 25.1 thousand people, respectively (in percentage terms by 12.89% and 12.27%).

Table 5 - Number of students in educational institutions of higher education by constituent entities of the Russian Federation

Academic year The subject of the Russian Federation	2013/ 2014,	2014/ 2015,		2015/ 2016,	Growth rate, % compared to previous year
Central Federal District
Northwestern Federal District
North Caucasus Federal District
Volga Federal District
Ural Federal District
Siberian Federal District
Far Eastern Federal District
Crimean Federal District
Total Russian Federation

Romanova Irina Matveevna d.e. Sc., professor, head. Department of Marketing, Commerce and Logistics, Far Eastern Federal University
Noskova Elena Viktorovna k.e. Sc., associate professor, deputy. head Department of Marketing, Commerce and Logistics, Far Eastern Federal University

Stages of developing a methodological approach to studying international market conditions

1st stage. Features of educational services

An educational service is an interaction between a producer and a consumer in the process of providing and purchasing this specific benefit and is the result of scientific and pedagogical work that is created to meet the needs of the consumer.

The specificity of educational services is manifested in a combination of traditional characteristics of services (intangibility, inseparability from the source, inconsistent quality, non-storability) and specific features inherent only to them:

1. the production and consumption of educational services is a fairly long process (the full cycle of specialist formation can take 20 years or more, i.e., the consumption of educational services can be carried out throughout life);
2. assessment throughout the entire training period (sessions, certification);
3. the decision to purchase (purchase) an educational service may be made not so much by the potential consumer as by his parents or older persons;
4. active intellectual participation of the consumer in the process of providing educational services;
5. consumption of educational services leads to improvement of the quality of the workforce;
6. from the consumer’s point of view, the remoteness of material benefit at the time of purchasing an educational service;
7. higher cost compared to other services, which is a consequence of the higher qualifications of educational service providers;
8. satisfying the spiritual and intellectual needs of the individual and society, i.e. the social need for education;
9. impossibility of resale;
10. the dependence of the acceptability of services on the place of their provision and the place of residence of potential students;
11. competitive nature (this feature is mainly manifested in most public higher educational institutions);
12. relatively young age of consumers of educational services.

Thus, the product in the educational services market is the knowledge, skills and abilities offered by the subjects of this market (universities, private teachers, schools, colleges).

2nd stage. Market Features Research

The composition of stakeholders in the educational services market is diverse. These are producers, sellers, direct and indirect consumers of educational services, intermediaries, providers, moderators, and coordinators. This market includes consumers of educational services, payers for educational services, employers, i.e. indirect users of the results of educational activities, institutions and workers in the field of educational services, companies that create elements of educational services (for example, IT companies, publishing houses, other content producers and technology), state.

Features of the foreign educational services market:

1. Education abroad is focused primarily on the student’s self-determination, identification and development of his natural inclinations, therefore higher education abroad is considered more liberal.
2. Practical orientation. Foreign universities strive to train exactly the kind of specialists who are required today and will be required in the market tomorrow. Modern education allows you to gain work experience while studying abroad, and by the time you receive your diploma, most students are already employed. The employment rate of graduates is the parameter that foreign universities are primarily proud of.
3. The quality of education abroad is based on three pillars: excellent equipment of schools and universities, progressive innovative educational technologies and the rejection of a passive form of learning in favor of active independent work.
4. Long-term nature of services. In general, the period of study abroad is 2 years longer than in Russia. Compulsory basic education (from 6 to 7 years), middle and high school (variability appears, the student chooses the specialization he is interested in - from 5 to 6 years). Universities and educational institutions of equal status offer 3 levels: bachelor (from 3 to 4 years), master (from 1 to 2 years) and doctor of science (from 3 to 4 years).
5. Flexibility of the entire foreign education system. Within one country (province, state, region), accredited educational institutions recognize credits received at similar institutions. “Credits” are the unit of accounting for academic workload. Their use is intended to ensure “transparency” and unity of academic requirements: for example, to obtain a degree it is necessary to obtain the number required by the educational institution. The widespread use of the credit system ensures exceptional flexibility of the educational process itself, and the mobility of students when moving from one educational program to another or from one university to another.
6. Variety of types of higher education institutions. In particular, in all countries, in addition to universities, there are also “university colleges” - universities with a small number of students (from 2 thousand to 3 thousand versus 20 thousand in a regular “full-size” university), specialized higher education institutions: technological universities , higher schools of economics and management, academies and colleges of fine arts, conservatories. Moreover, the structure of foreign universities includes from 3 to 20 faculties.
7. Intensive development of the non-university sector of higher education. In recent years, three-year and four-year vocational schools have been growing in popularity and are beginning to compete with universities. A shorter duration of study and a clear professional focus of training increase the demand for graduates of these institutions from industrial and commercial firms.
8. Independent formation of a curriculum by a student. Foreign universities provide a wide choice of disciplines, in comparison with the requirements of state standards of the Russian Federation, which can be presented in two options: the first is a free choice, giving the student the opportunity to choose any discipline from the natural sciences, humanities and socio-economic cycles or a special discipline for deepening professional knowledge; the second is a limited choice, which makes it possible to choose from a certain list of disciplines or areas of knowledge.

The organization of the educational process in foreign countries is carried out using an individual learning path, which provides for students’ independent choice of a list of disciplines required to study, which is ensured by the presence of banks of disciplines in various areas and specializations, which are constantly updated, which allows the learning process to be adjusted in accordance with the development of new scientific directions and labor market requirements.

3rd stage. Development of a market research program

Taking into account the above-mentioned features of the commodity market, we will develop a program for studying the market situation (Table 1).

Table 1. Brief description of the stages of the market research program

4th stage. Formation of the main directions of research

The research process involves searching for information in certain areas:

1. Assessment of the state and trends of market development:
   • Number of students and teachers in primary and secondary education in the Asia-Pacific region;
   • main companies operating in the market;
   • distribution of foreign students studying in higher education institutions in Asia-Pacific countries by region of their origin.
2. Analysis of product offerings on the market:
   • number of educational institutions in Asia-Pacific countries;
   • the share of the best universities in the Asia-Pacific countries included in the world Top ranking;
   • characteristics of education programs;
   • cost of educational services for bachelor's and master's programs;
   • shares of the main market recipient countries.
3. Analysis of consumer demand in the market:
   • the number of foreign students in Asia-Pacific countries;
   • the most popular specialties in the foreign market.
4. Market price analysis: minimum and maximum prices for educational services by Asia-Pacific countries.

After collecting and processing information, you should proceed to the next stage of the program - analysis and interpretation of data. For each identified quantitative indicator, it is necessary to build a time series, develop charts and graphs.

The developed approach to the study will allow us to assess the state, existing trends in market development, analyze product supply, consumer demand and the ratio of product supply and consumer demand, as well as make a forecast of market conditions based on an assessment of the factors influencing its formation.

5th stage. Development of forms for data tabulation

For ease of processing and presentation of the received data, the collected secondary information will be systematized and processed using the forms presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Growth rates of the number of students and teachers in primary, secondary and higher education in the world and in the Asia-Pacific region from 2005 to 2010.

To characterize the supply in the educational services market of the Asia-Pacific countries, we will consider the total number of educational institutions in the Asia-Pacific countries, the number of educational institutions in the field of higher education that are included in the Top 50 best universities in the world, and also consider the characteristics of the main educational institutions in the educational services market of the Asia-Pacific countries. The tools for characterizing the supply in the educational services market of Asia-Pacific countries are presented in Tables 3, 4.

Table 3. Characteristics of the supply of educational services in the Asia-Pacific countries, which are included in the Top/20 best countries in terms of the quality of school education, 2010

Table 4. Characteristics of the supply of educational services in the Asia-Pacific countries, which are included in the Top/50 best universities in the world, 2011.

To characterize the demand in the market for educational services in Asia-Pacific countries, we will consider the ratio of foreign students and students studying abroad in Asia-Pacific countries, the distribution of university graduates by field of study, as well as the most paid university specialties (Table 5).

Table 5. Characteristics of demand in the educational services market of Asia-Pacific countries, 2012

The proposed methodological approach to studying the market conditions for educational services in Asia-Pacific countries will allow optimizing the research process both in terms of collecting the required information and in terms of its processing.

Testing of the methodological approach (using the example of the educational services market in Asia-Pacific countries)

Analysis of the market conditions for educational services in Asia-Pacific countries

The market for educational services in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region is actively developing. Globalization and economic integration are changing the face of the modern education system. Students have a wide choice of different degrees of education, as well as where and how to receive it. The rapidly developing educational markets in China, Singapore and Malaysia have already squeezed out traditional markets in the USA, Great Britain and Australia. Today, the sphere of education significantly intersects with the economic sphere of society, and educational activity is becoming a critical component of the economic development of countries.

Today, the following trends can be identified in the educational services market in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region:

1. Absolute increase in the number of students. From 2005 to 2010, the number of students and teachers in universities increased by 17 and 15%, respectively. At the same time, the highest rates of student enrollment in universities were noted in Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Guatemala (the increase was more than 50%).
2. Global internationalization and openness of education. Over the past decades, the export of educational services has become one of the most promising areas for the development of foreign economic relations in the Asia-Pacific countries. Training of foreign citizens is a significant factor in stimulating economic growth. Eight leading recipient countries can be noted, receiving more than 70% of the total number of foreign students: USA (20%), UK (12%), China (7%), Germany (7%), Australia (7%), Canada (5 %), Japan (4%). Malaysia, Singapore and India have also become exporters of educational services and are currently actively marketing in China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia. India is developing its own regional markets in the Arab countries and the Indian Ocean countries. At the same time, the balance of power among world leaders in attracting foreign students is changing (the shares of the USA, Great Britain and Germany are slightly decreasing, while the shares of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Russia are growing).
3. Growing mass participation of higher education. In the 21st century, higher education acts as a key and fundamental component of the sustainable development of the human community. The World Trade Organization estimates the global higher education market to be worth between $50 billion and $60 billion in 2010, with the United States accounting for one-quarter of that share; followed by France, Australia, Canada.
4. The rapid pace of development of East Asian countries in the field of education. According to a recent report from the Grattan Institute, an Australian think tank, East Asia is now home to the world's best primary and secondary schools, with students capable of outperforming Western students. The average 15-year-old student in Shanghai has math skills two to three years ahead of their peers in the US, Australia, UK and Europe, according to a report based on data from the Organization's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). economic cooperation and development. In South Korea, spending on elementary school students is less than half that of the United States, but South Korean students outperform their American peers in reading, math, and science.
5. The growth of information transformation. The Internet and digital technologies force us to reconsider the forms of delivery and assessment of knowledge in the educational process of higher education. The creation of global information networks has actually destroyed the boundaries between states in the field of flows of educational information, confronting education with a fact when not only educational institutions, but also global information resources have become the source of obtaining new knowledge and educational information.
6. Diversification and internationalization of higher education. Diversification is associated with the organization of new educational institutions, the introduction of new areas of study, new courses and disciplines, and the creation of interdisciplinary programs. Internationalization is aimed at bringing national systems closer together, finding and developing common universal concepts and components in them - those foundations that form the basis of the diversity of national cultures, promoting their mutual enrichment and stimulating them to achieve high standards.
7. Continuous education among the population of Asia-Pacific countries. The new type of economic development that is taking hold in the information society makes it necessary for workers to change their profession several times throughout their lives and constantly improve their skills. Thus, the literacy level in the countries of the region among young people in 2005-2010. increased by 2.3 times. At the same time, the highest literacy rate (100%) among the adult population in 2010 is observed in Russia and the DPRK, among the younger generation - in Russia, Brunei, Macau, the DPRK, Indonesia, Samoa and Singapore. In the information society, the sphere of education is closely connected with the economic sphere of society, and educational activities become the most important component of its economic development.
8. Expanding the influence of the Anglo-Saxon higher education system through a multi-level education scheme. The US leadership in the field of high technology, basic scientific research and education leads to the fact that the multi-level system adjusts national systems to the “bachelor - master - doctor” system. The transformation of national systems is determined by the need to provide local and foreign students with the opportunity to obtain internationally convertible higher education documents and take part in the expanding process of mobility during their studies.
9. The growing role of the English language. Since the number of foreign students in Asia-Pacific countries increased by more than 20% by 2010, the role of English as a language of international communication has increased among both teachers and students.

In general, the supply of educational services in the Asia-Pacific countries is represented by more than 252 thousand institutions, including more than 200 thousand schools, 32 thousand colleges and 19 thousand higher educational institutions.

The largest number of educational institutions are concentrated in the USA, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Russia, China and the Philippines. This is largely due to the fact that these countries are exporters of educational services.

In the Asia-Pacific region, six leading recipient countries can be noted, receiving more than 45% of the total number of foreign students: the USA, China, Australia, Canada, Japan and Russia (Fig. 1).

Rice. 1. Shares of countries hosting international students (post-secondary education) in 2010

Table 6. Offer of educational services in Asia-Pacific countries included in the Top/20 best countries in terms of the quality of school education

As for the quality of education in higher education institutions in the Asia-Pacific countries, it is assessed according to generally accepted international rankings, 2 of which are Asian, 3 are European (Webometrics 2011, ARWU 2011, QS 2011, TIMES 2011, PRSPWU 2011). Since they have completely different evaluation criteria, the combined rating allows us to identify countries in the world where education as a system is better established. The Top 50 countries in the world where the best universities are located include 17 countries from the Asia-Pacific region (Table 7).

Table 7. Offer of educational services in Asia-Pacific countries included in the Top/50 best universities in the world in 2011.

The availability of education in a country is determined by its cost. On average, the cost of studying at the best universities in the Asia-Pacific countries, which are included in the Top-50, for 2011 is 6-44 thousand US dollars for foreign citizens (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Tuition fees for undergraduate programs per academic year at the best universities in the Asia-Pacific countries for foreign citizens in 2011.

Data show that the highest tuition fees for undergraduate programs per academic year at the best universities for foreign citizens are in the USA, Australia, and Canada.

The cost of training for master's programs in Russia and China is the lowest for foreign citizens - from 1 to 10 thousand US dollars (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Tuition fees for master's programs per academic year at the best universities in the Asia-Pacific countries for foreign citizens in 2011.

In terms of the number of students studying abroad, the leading positions are occupied by China (more than 510 thousand students), South Korea (more than 125 thousand students), Malaysia, France, the USA (more than 50 thousand), Russia, Canada, Vietnam and Japan ( more than 40 thousand).

Globally, the share of international students in 2010 was 58.6% in North America and Western Europe, 20.2% in East Asia and the Pacific, 9.2% in Central and Eastern Europe, 5.6% in the Arab states, 2.4% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2.3% in sub-Saharan Africa, 1.4% in Central Asia and 0.5% in South-West Asia.

Among the countries in which students mainly prefer to study are Australia, Japan, Russia, France, the USA and Canada, in total more than 90 thousand people. (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Shares of the main Asia-Pacific countries by the number of foreign students in 2010, %

The most popular fields of study in Russia are social sciences, entrepreneurship, law (46% of all fields), in Japan - health care, social welfare (27% of all fields) and engineering, manufacturing, construction (18% of all fields).

In the USA and Australia, the most popular are social sciences, entrepreneurship, law (In the USA - 38%, in Australia - 15% of all areas), health care, social security (In the USA - 44%, in Australia - 15% of all areas ).

It should be noted that the educational services market is closely interconnected with the labor market. Therefore, increasing job security after receiving education is an important competitive advantage not only for universities in the educational services market, but also for states on the world stage.

It is worth emphasizing that the peculiarity of educational services is that the beginning of their consumption occurs simultaneously with the beginning of their provision, i.e. supply and demand in the educational services market coincide in time. Thus, the situation in the market for educational services in Asia-Pacific countries can be characterized by the size of the student population in the region (Table 8).

Table 8. Growth rates of student numbers in Asia-Pacific countries in 2005–2010

Based on the data presented in Table 8, it should be noted that in general the number of students in the region increased by 2% from 2005 to 2010. Consequently, we can say that the market conditions for educational services in the Asia-Pacific countries today are favorable, since there is a fairly stable demand for these services.

In the Asia-Pacific region, as in other regions of the world, there are processes of increasing internationalization of education and the formation of a unified educational space. The potential of the region is enormous both in terms of population and in terms of the pace and proportions of socio-economic development.

In part, the insufficient number of national universities has led to the widespread use of transnational forms of education - the import of educational programs from other countries.

Getting an education abroad also remains relevant. In a country comparison by the number of students studying abroad, the leading positions can be noted in the following countries: China (more than 510 thousand students), South Korea (more than 125 thousand students), Malaysia, France, USA (more than 50 thousand students), Russia, Canada, Vietnam and Japan (more than 40 thousand students).

Among the countries in which students prefer to study are Australia, Japan, Russia, France, the USA and Canada. The number of foreign students in the listed countries is more than 90 thousand people. The largest universities are located in Australia, Canada, China and the USA (the competition is more than 40 thousand students), the university with the largest student capacity is located in the USA - California State University, which accommodates more than 140 thousand students.

In general, it should be noted that the market for educational services in the Asia-Pacific region is actively developing. Efforts to increase human capital tend to focus on the younger population. The youth literacy rate today is over 90%. Interest in self-education among the younger generation is steadily growing.

Results

Studying the conditions of the international commodity market is a complex, labor-intensive process, during which the researcher faces a number of problems: firstly, the “language” problem, secondly, the difficulty in processing information, which sometimes cannot be reduced to a single denominator, thirdly, cross-cultural differences, fourthly, outdated international statistics, etc. Developing a methodological approach at the research planning stage helps to “smooth out” the above problems, brings clarity to the setting of goals and objectives, and helps build a research logic.

In this article, the authors share their experience in organizing market research using the example of the international educational services market. We hope that the information presented will be useful both to specialists in the field of education and specialists in the field of market research, market participants, specialists engaged in market research, as well as students and undergraduates in economic specialties.

Khuziyatov T. International cooperation in the internationalization of education and science in the Asia-Pacific region

INTRODUCTION

The place and role of any country in the international division of labor, its competitiveness in the world markets of manufacturing industries and advanced technologies depend primarily on the quality of training of specialists and on the conditions that the country creates for the manifestation and realization of the intellectual potential of the nation. The role of knowledge in economic development is rapidly growing, outstripping the importance of means of production and natural resources. According to World Bank estimates, physical capital in a modern economy forms 16% of the total wealth of each country, natural capital - 20%, and human capital - 64%. In countries such as Japan and Germany, human capital accounts for up to 80% of national wealth. Currently, value is created through increased productivity and the use of innovation, that is, the application of knowledge in practice.

The need for transformation of the Russian education system is objectively determined by the socio-economic changes that have occurred in Russia over the past 10 years. It stems from the need to bring all systems and subsystems of the national economic complex into compliance with the requirements of restoring lost economic positions and ensuring the transition to a post-industrial society. The main goal of this transformation is to create an educational system in which young generations will master professions in demand in the labor market and knowledge that will help them participate productively in the life of a democratic society.

In the process of transition from an industrial to an information society, the creation and dissemination of knowledge becomes a key factor. These processes rely heavily on the use and development of the educational system.

In recent years, a number of important government documents have been adopted that determine the prospects for the development of the domestic education system. This is the National Doctrine of Education in the Russian Federation until 2025, and the Federal Program for the Development of Education for 2000-2005, and, of course, the Concept of Modernization of Russian Education for the Period until 2010, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation in December last year. Economic issues occupy a prominent place in all these documents. And this is natural, since it is their solution in modern conditions that largely determines the effectiveness of the education system. The purpose of this work is to analyze the system of educational services in the Russian Federation, identify its main economic problems and determine possible ways to solve them.

1. ANALYSIS OF THE MARKET FOR EDUCATIONAL SERVICES IN MODERN RUSSIA

1.1 Investment in education is the most important indicator of sustainable economic growth

The growth of the Russian economy is determined by many different factors: an increase in the quantity of resources, an increase in their quality and an improvement in their use. Raising the well-being of society is impossible without creating conditions for economic growth. This usually requires investment.

To achieve sustainable economic growth, investments in education (i.e., in human capital) are no less important than investments in physical capital. In the US, every year spent studying increases an employee's salary by a total of 10%. Investments in human capital are associated with opportunity costs. Many scholars argue that human capital is especially important for a country's economic recovery because it provides positive externalities to society.

The social benefits of educational development are difficult to assess. It is believed that more educated members of society are more knowledgeable voters, more law-abiding citizens and bring significant benefits, as the ideas of highly qualified specialists in improving technology become the property of the public, which makes it possible for everyone to benefit from them. Related to this statement is the so-called “brain drain” that underdeveloped countries face. The economic situation of a country where qualified specialists leave may worsen. It is investments in human capital and the growth in the value of human labor that become the most important factors in transforming the economy, since human capital can be considered as a reserve that can accumulate and be a source of higher income for society in the future. Education not only allows you to master old, already accumulated knowledge, but also contributes to the acquisition of new knowledge, and also creates conditions for the development of more advanced technologies. Thus, the development of education moves forward and creates the preconditions for future progress.

To analyze the behavior of subjects in the educational services market, it is necessary:

Firstly, to determine the structure of factors that influence people’s decision-making regarding the advisability of receiving education, and, consequently, regarding the volume of investment in human capital;

Secondly, consider the factors that determine the behavior of the state in the education market;

Thirdly, to assess the features of the formation of preferences regarding educational services, taking into account the region of Russia;

Fourth, determine a criterion for structuring education that closely correlates with age;

Fifthly, to study the behavior of other economic entities in the education market, which are also potential participants in this market and have a demand for educational services.

By human capital, economists understand a person’s abilities, abilities, knowledge, and skills. The accumulation of human capital occurs both in preschool age and at school, technical school, university, and during retraining or advanced training courses. The methods of demand research at any level of education or training are the same.

All investments in education are made with the hope of a high return on investment in the future. Therefore, when making decisions about investments in education, benefits and costs are compared. The assessment is based on the expectations of all economic entities. Strictly speaking, expected benefits are the main factor in decision making. In addition, the rate of return from education for society is different from the rate of return for the individual, since the costs and benefits of education for society and the individual are calculated differently.

To assess the expected benefits of investing in human capital from the perspective of individuals, it is necessary to identify those factors that influence people's desire to demand education. They can be divided into short-term and long-term.

Long-term factors (priorities):

1) high level of wages during subsequent life;

2) great satisfaction from the chosen work throughout life (moral benefits);

3) achieving a higher social status. It is assumed that in modern society you can rise from the bottom to the very top, and this only requires effort. There are so-called “elevators” of social mobility, one of which is education;

4) wide access to more promising, interesting work;

5) parents’ ideas about the future of their children, which is a determining factor in the choice of life strategy due to the traditional system of family education in Russia;

6) level of education and social status of parents, which influence the orientation of their children (continuity of generations, continuation of the profession of parents). For parents, a child’s higher education acts as proof of the viability of the family, the viability of its material and social resources;

7) choice of profession made by friends or acquaintances;

8) the prestige of a particular type and level of education.

Short-term factors (current priorities):

1) a high assessment of non-market activities and interests that are associated with obtaining an education (the learning process, communication with friends, school or student life);

2) the desire of young men to enter any university in order to delay military service;

3) the desire of girls to enter a university, caused by the desire to get married successfully.

All other things being equal, the probability of entering a technical school or university for people who are focused on the current moment is less than that of people who are focused on the future.

Now let's look at the benefits that society receives from investing in education. They are superior to individuals.

The total benefit to society is calculated without any income tax on wages, since society as a whole benefits from the services provided through taxes. If we consider education as a certain “signal” for the labor market, then the social return from education is that it helps to “sort” workers according to their productivity. The wealth of society as a whole is viewed as a combination of human and material capital. High investment in education increases productivity.

Firms also benefit from investing in education. Educational institutes provide employers with a selection mechanism. Many employers rely on their diplomas when hiring applicants. Perhaps the level and quality of education is a less expensive tool than any other that firms could use.

Benefits accruing to higher education institutions. To maintain and improve its status, the university strives to attract the most talented and efficient graduates of schools and other educational institutions. To identify them, a system of complex entrance tests is being created. This strategy makes it possible to raise the level of training of graduates, which is an important factor that increases the prestige of a given university.

A number of studies conducted in Russia show how expectations regarding the future earnings of school graduates are formed. In particular, they show that the average incomes earned by recent school leavers have a strong influence on the decisions of young people and their parents to continue their education or enter the labor market.

According to the results of VTsIOM surveys, differences in wages influence the choice of a future profession and, consequently, an educational institution. Continuing education is an opportunity for good employment and the prospect of good earnings. The desire for education is also associated with the desire to move up the career ladder.

Population surveys confirm a high desire for higher education. Most parents and children are focused on higher education. The goal of obtaining higher education has become a generally accepted norm, practically independent of the students’ social environment. There is not only high prestige in all social groups, but also quite high motivation to obtain it among village residents, as well as in social groups traditionally considered socially vulnerable (those with many children, with unemployed parents, with low per capita income).

This main conclusion was confirmed by a representative survey of families across Russia, carried out by the Public Opinion Foundation in 2002-2003, in which 9,020 respondents took part. At the same time, 62% of respondents had children, 38% did not. 35% of respondents had higher education among family members of respondents, 26% had specialized secondary education, 13% had secondary technical, vocational school, 13% had general secondary education, 5% had incomplete higher education, 5% had incomplete secondary education, primary or lower – 2%; 2% of respondents found it difficult to answer.

In families where parents have higher education, they most often talk about the importance of education. Less often than others, representatives of those families whose highest educational level is secondary general education or lower are convinced of this. The former are 4 times more likely than the latter to declare the “absolute importance” of higher education, as well as their readiness to incur material costs for their children to receive it. Among respondents who have this attitude, managers at various levels and specialists (that is, people who themselves have a higher education or work in positions that require it) are somewhat more common.

Higher education, in the opinion of both high school students and their parents, has become the main and practically the only condition for successful implementation in the labor market, while education in the 9th grade is, as a rule, considered less attractive. According to the survey, families of first-year students officially spent the most money on: paying for tutors (9 times the monthly income per family member); to pay for tuition in paid schools or classes (4 times the monthly income per family member); for paid preparatory courses (3 times the monthly income per family member). The amount of unofficial costs is approximately 4.5 monthly income per family member.

Parents, believing that the money invested in education pays off in most cases, go to great lengths to give their children a higher education; they save money, take out a bank loan, pay for additional educational services, and pay bribes.

Since the expected level of costs influences the decision to invest in education, it is necessary first of all to determine what costs in this case are borne by all agents in the economy.

Individual costs of education:

1) tuition fees and expenses for the purchase of textbooks and stationery;

2) expenses for changing place of residence;

3) lost earnings, since part of the time is spent on obtaining an additional unit of human capital;

4) expenses for informal (shadow) educational services. These include: costs for tutors when entering a prestigious school, university, paid entrance exams, paid preparatory courses, and unofficial assistance when enrolling a child.

Social costs to society of education include:

1) financing of preschool education, the system of general secondary and vocational higher education by the state;

2) state expenditures in the field of higher education. The redundancy of specialists in certain professions in relation to their optimal number increases state expenses (for example, for teaching practice, for laboratory research, etc.);

3) costs of firms for general professional training of workers.

The main participants in the educational services market that place demand for one or another level of education are:

Families with children;

Firms interested in productivity growth;

A state whose goal is economic growth and improving the well-being of society;

Higher education institutions interested in improving their own reputation.

Let's see how the behavior of all agents in the educational services market changes depending on the level of education.

1.2 Preschool education

Let us present the main performance indicators of preschool educational institutions in the Republic of Mari El.

The number of preschool educational institutions in 2001 was 285, and at the end of 2004 there were 265. The dynamics show a decrease in the number of these institutions. At the same time, the number of children in preschool institutions increased from 24.4 thousand (for 29.4 thousand places) to 25.7 thousand (for 28.3 thousand places), which is 61.2% and 66, 5% of the number of children of the corresponding age. There were 717 places per 1,000 children aged 1-6 years in preschool educational institutions in 2001, and 732 places in 2004.

Empirical observations allow us to study the formation of financial flows at the preschool stage of education. The average annual fee for visiting a kindergarten is 5,400 rubles. In addition, it should be noted that an important item of expenditure for families is payment for private services to prepare preschoolers for first grade. At this stage of education, judging by household expenses, additional educational services play an important role - music, sports, art, and dance schools. Families aiming to obtain higher education for their children, in general, spend about the same amount on training and education of preschoolers as other survey participants, but they are noticeably more likely than others (26% versus 20% on average for the sample) to say that they are ready to pay unofficially for admission child to a “good school”.

The growth in demand for the services of private structures is mainly due to the low quality of public services in preschool institutions. Government institutions are faced with the problem of a lack of personnel and their low qualifications. The reason for the shortage of qualified specialists is insufficient funding for preschool institutions. The average monthly nominal accrued wage in these institutions was 2,406 rubles in 2004, and the average cost of living per capita in the same year was 2,200 rubles.

The poor material and technical base of preschool institutions influences parents' choice to increase spending on private services: many preschool institutions require major repairs, and some are in disrepair.

Thus, the potential demand for the services of preschool educational institutions includes not only the demand for the services of public, but also private institutions that make it possible to satisfy the great needs of parents in this type of educational services. State preschool institutions do not always meet the requirements of parents of preschool children.

1.3 General education

The school system lays the foundation for the overall process of developing future qualifications. And here, from the perspective of the needs of the economy, several general tasks are visible.

The first task is the content of the teaching programs themselves, which must reflect significant changes in economic life. This type of education should lay the foundation of knowledge that can be used in any subsequent career option. Already at this stage, development of creative abilities and talents, familiarization with different professions and mastery of information technology skills as the general basis of modern education and business come first.

The second task is the quality of teaching, which in turn must meet the realities of life, modern technology and social needs and which depends on the prestige and status of teaching work, its remuneration, conditions, and the level of training of the teachers themselves. In many countries, teachers now have increasing knowledge of the labor market and the economy, and many become teachers after having previously had other professional careers.

The third and most difficult task is the effective teaching of children and adolescents. After all, shortcomings in the implementation of the first two tasks lead to the formation of a “risk group” consisting of uncompetitive workers, yesterday’s schoolchildren, the least prepared for active creative work.

The education system, working to reform Russian society, should pursue the goal of more fully meeting the needs for educational services from both the individual and society as a whole. The emergence of a wide range of educational services, as well as the presence of educational institutions of various forms of ownership, create a healthy competitive environment, which helps improve the quality of educational services provided and their targeted consumption.

According to statistics, the number of general education institutions in Mari El decreased from 415 in the 2001/2002 academic year to 348 in the 2005/2006 academic year, and the number of students (at the beginning of the school year) - accordingly from 112.9 thousand people to 82 thousand. In other words, the number of general education institutions decreased by approximately 16%, and the number of students - by almost 27.5%.

The process of closing state daytime primary institutions in the republic is most intensive (from 96 to 58), less intensively in secondary (complete) schools (from 219 to 195) and in basic educational institutions (from 86 to 80). In general educational institutions for children with disabilities, the situation is almost stable.

Many buildings of state daytime educational institutions require major repairs. In a number of places, schools, especially primary ones, are located in buildings that are not suitable for working with children.

A characteristic feature of the school network is the presence of a large number of small and ungraded schools. In such educational institutions, teachers have to combine teaching many subjects. Small schools are less well equipped with technical teaching aids, laboratory equipment, and visual aids. One of the reasons explaining this situation is the low level of wages: in 2004, the average monthly nominal accrued wage in daytime educational institutions was 3,111 rubles. A serious problem in educational institutions is the aging of the teaching staff and the lack of young recruits. The school is supported by middle-aged and retired teachers, as a result of which there is a certain conservatism in the knowledge of schoolchildren. Young professionals do not go to school to work.

These facts lead to a decline in the quality of education, which varies significantly depending on the school. The presence of lyceums and special schools makes it possible to maintain a fairly high level of education in certain strata of society, but for the most part the level of secondary education has decreased.

Direct payment for educational services for schoolchildren is not among the most common areas of investment. Payment for additional classes in basic subjects - the most popular of these services - occupies only 9-10th place in the list of costs associated with educating a student, and is in demand in 11% of families. The same number of parents pay for their child’s classes in clubs and sections. About 8% of families pay to prepare their child for admission to a secondary specialized or higher educational institution. Only 5% of families noted paying official fees for their child’s schooling.

The survey results indicate that families aimed at obtaining higher education for their children, unlike others, are concerned about their children’s academic performance at this stage of the educational process. In this group of families, the costs of preparing children for the school curriculum, as well as paying for their classes with private teachers, are about a quarter higher than the average for the sample. At the same time, parents assess the costs of tutors and full-time courses as high, but necessary in order to increase their child’s chances of admission.

The greatest investment is required to obtain higher education, and parents are forced to both pay for preparation and admission to a university, and monthly during the entire period of study allocate a significant share of family income for educational needs.

The level of state secondary education appears to the population to be insufficient. According to parents and schoolchildren, a very important indicator of the quality of school education is admission to universities, namely, the number of students in a given school (or class) who managed to enter universities. What is expected from school is not education in general, not knowledge in general, but the knowledge that is needed to prepare for entering a university. Meanwhile, facts indicate that school does not provide knowledge sufficient to enter a university. Serious difficulties for applicants are caused by discrepancies and inconsistencies in the programs of the school and university.

In fact, most families already pay for university admission. A student who graduates from a regular school has almost no chance of entering a university without additional effort. Training in preparatory courses and classes with tutors become completely inevitable. Costs for enrolling in a university should also include paid entrance exams, paid paperwork, payment for a hostel while taking exams, renting private housing during the period of taking exams, books, textbooks, photocopying of materials for preparing for a university and other needs.

Access to higher education is strictly differentiated depending on the type of secondary educational institution from which boys and girls graduate. Graduates of secondary schools are to a much greater extent (up to 90%) focused on universities, while among graduates of colleges and vocational schools there are no more than 1/5 of them.

Education, which allows one to occupy advantageous social positions in the future, is much more accessible to those whose parents are able to provide education in a good school, pre-university preparation, training at a prestigious university, etc. In such a situation, high-level education and prestigious professions are increasingly becoming the privilege of wealthier families.

1.4 Primary vocational education

The peculiarity of the market for vocational education services at all levels is its heterogeneity. It includes many segmented, interconnected markets, which are formed under the influence of various circumstances: level and stage of education, type of educational institution, training profile, nature of specialty, gender, age, marital status and other factors.

Primary vocational education is the least in demand compared to secondary specialized and higher education. Throughout the entire period of socio-economic transformations, there has been a gradual reduction in both the number of educational institutions that train specialists with appropriate qualifications and the number of students in them. If in the 2001 academic year in the republic 13.1 thousand students studied in 32 institutions of the primary vocational education system, then in the 2004 academic year there were 9.5 thousand students in 23 institutions. The vast majority of students in vocational schools are children from families with low and below-average incomes.

If a child’s schooling requires financial investments from almost all parents (only 8% of schoolchildren’s parents said they do not make any), then obtaining a vocational primary education, as the survey results show, requires only two-thirds (about 30% of families in which there is vocational school student, did not note any type of relevant costs). At this level of educational preparation, the largest number of families (40%) incur costs for the purchase of stationery. A quarter of respondents noted the purchase of textbooks and educational supplies as an expense item. Families of vocational school students pay official tuition fees much more often than parents of schoolchildren, but spend much less on additional educational services.

The demand for vocational primary education services is extremely low. Apparently, the plans of teenagers and their parents regarding studying at vocational schools are influenced by the further employment of graduates of these institutions. A distinctive feature of representatives of this socio-demographic group is their low competitiveness in the labor market due to the lack of sufficient qualifications, work experience and practical work experience. When hiring, discrimination is possible regarding wages for this category of workers. With a massive reduction in the number of personnel at many enterprises, it is recent vocational school graduates who are subject to priority reduction. In addition, the position of vocational school graduates is greatly influenced by the level of education received, adaptability to the changing situation on the labor market, as well as the situation in a particular vocational school. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the psychological side of this problem. Young specialists who entered the labor market and did not find a worthy use for themselves in it tend to consider themselves “thrown overboard”, useless to anyone, which. Taking into account the specifics of youth imbalance, instability of the nervous system, uncompromisingness, it can lead to irreversible social consequences.

To change the situation, a clear program is needed to regulate the problems discussed. There is an objective need of society for workers. It is necessary to implement measures that will lead to an increase in the role of vocational primary education, which is a step in the system of continuous education and a multi-level system of training specialists.

1.5 Secondary specialized education

The secondary vocational education system is designed to train workers in broad-based specialties that are in demand in the labor market. The income level of families entering college is low and below average. Most college students are the children of workers, office workers, and technical specialists.

The higher the level of education of family members and the level of its income, the higher the total annual costs of educating a child in secondary school. The highest education costs in this case are tuition fees for paid colleges. The cost of classes with tutors under the college program is a third lower, and the cost of renting housing for college students is another third. The higher the level of education of family members, or their official status, or the level of family income, the higher the costs of educating a child in a secondary school. It should be noted that there are no significant differences by region and type of settlement in this indicator. Currently, there are 13 secondary schools in Mari El (14 in 2001), with 14.2 thousand students studying (11.8 thousand in 2001).

1.6 Higher education

Higher school in the modern period has found itself in a very difficult situation, caused primarily by the transition to market relations in the field of education, including a reduction in budget funding for higher educational institutions and the abandonment of mandatory state distribution of graduates. In the face of declining financial revenues from the budget, universities are forced to look for new sources of funding; the most obvious source is the introduction of tuition fees, the formation of commercial faculties, departments, and courses. In addition, universities are renting out their space and territories, reducing the cost of purchasing new equipment and reducing staffing levels. Such changes cannot but affect the educational process and the quality of training of specialists.

Fundamental changes in the system of employment of graduates required universities to develop emergency measures: in the absence of a system of state distribution of graduates, in order not to lose applicants, the university must be provided, if not guarantees, then at least hope that the graduate will find a suitable job. This means that the university must provide a specialty that is in demand in the labor market, provide education that allows one to adapt to market requirements, and provide services to facilitate graduates’ employment. Only if these conditions are met, the reputation of the university will be able to withstand the fierce competition of enterprises, organizations, firms and educational institutions for a young person who determines his life choices, and maintain its own existence in a market economy.

Data on the flow of finances obtained during the implementation of the project “Formation of a system for monitoring the economics of education” show that paid higher education in modern Russia occupies an equal position compared to officially free. In recent years, household expenses for students in paid departments have been growing, while for students in budget places they have been decreasing.

Studying at a university requires the greatest expenses: almost 20% of families invest 3 thousand or more rubles in it every month, another third - from 1 thousand to 3 thousand rubles. The total costs of families for students studying on a paid basis exceed the costs for students studying in a budget department by approximately 3 times.

The main problem of employing university graduates is that the growing demand for higher education is inadequate to the number of jobs with appropriate qualifications in the economy. If in our society, as in countries with developed market economies, a higher level of education would provide greater guarantees of good employment and a high standard of living, and provide protection from unemployment, then perhaps the demand for a higher level of education would increase. One of the paradoxes of the situation in Russia is that the remuneration of specialists did not correspond (and even now does not always correspond) either to the costs of their training or to the level of their requirements. This discrepancy has led to the emergence of an unjustifiably large number of specialists with higher education working in blue-collar positions and generally not in their specialty.

The need for educational services as a public good is expressed through the mechanism of public choice, in the form of decisions made: to enroll in this or that educational institution, in this or that faculty, in the corresponding prestigious educational institution. This need greatly depends on the opinions of parents and friends. It can be constrained by the rules of admission to an educational institution, the level of requirements for the quality of knowledge of applicants, and can also be deformed by the corresponding policy of state support for students.

The need for higher education takes on a pronounced social connotation, since obtaining a higher education is seen as a symbol of the highest consumer standard and middle-class lifestyle. Higher education also fulfills the growing social needs of people in their further spiritual and intellectual development. The need for higher education depends on the scale of development of other levels of education and the quality of training at previous levels of education. A so-called “domestic educational market” is emerging, where the quality of education plays the role of a kind of “currency”.

The peculiarity of educational services is that the effect that a person and society receives is difficult to quantify. The uncertainty of the final results of the qualitative aspects of education creates difficulties for students:

In the correct choice of training profile and specialty for teachers

In the reasonable selection of students, and for enterprises - in the rational recruitment of specialists for work (the employer often needs time to recognize a new specialty).

Another feature of educational services is the high elasticity of demand for them. Consumers of education services can deliberately cut their expenses in favor of other items in the consumer budget. After a compulsory education system (for example, at a university), service consumers often have to compare the costs of studying with “lost income”, i.e. with the income they would have received by working in the national economy during their studies. The factor of “lost income” is taken into account by the theory of human capital in the formulas for determining the comparative effectiveness of training in various types of educational institutions.

The market for professional training and advanced training services is connected, on the one hand, with the labor market, and on the other, with the market for scientific and technical products and the investment market. The imbalance between the structure of training and the needs of the economy both for workers and specialists, in the context of the transition to market relations, makes it difficult for graduates to find employment. In mitigating the imbalance in the structure of the labor force and jobs, the main role belongs to the mobility of the educational system as a whole and especially the vocational education system. This is achieved primarily through the quality of education, which ensures that workers adapt to market demands.

It should be borne in mind that the market for professional educational services plays an active role in the formation of promising employment, solving the problem of retraining workers who find themselves unemployed due to structural restructuring of the economy and scientific and technological progress.

At the same time, the issue of the highly qualified labor market and the adequate response of the education system to it has its own socio-economic content. The presence of “extra” people with diplomas, who are not in demand during the transition to a market, raises questions both before the state and before the vocational education system about changing the forms and methods of their preparation. The market for educational services, adapting to the labor market, also has its own characteristics, primarily due to the fact that education is largely a public good.

Consumers of educational services are individuals or groups of simultaneously studying individuals. Payment for educational services is carried out either directly by their consumers, or by enterprises, organizations (industry financing of educational institutions) and the state (budget financing). Until recently, payment for educational services in our country was carried out mainly by the state. Consequently, the state is a double monopolist in education: both in the sphere of production of educational services and in the sphere of their consumption. This means that the solution to all the main problems of education often depends on the state apparatus: who, what and how to teach and how much resources to allocate for this.

2. ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF THE EDUCATIONAL SERVICES SYSTEM AND POSSIBLE WAYS TO SOLUTION THEM

The main set of economic problems of the education system is associated with a sharp shortage of budgetary funding for the industry and insufficient elaboration of the sectoral economic mechanism. The current management mechanism in education does not ensure the priority of taking into account the strategic interests of the nation, the interest of educational institutions in improving the quality level of educational work, the protection of the rights of educational institutions in their relationships with founders and government bodies, the optimal distribution of economic resources between territorial educational systems and within them .

Analyzing the financial resources that ensure the development of the education system, it should be noted that the state currently allocates almost 600 billion rubles, or 4% of GDP, to the Russian education system.

Expansion of budget financing of education has the following possible parameters and limitations:

Increasing its share to 6.2% of GDP by 2005 will increase budget funding for education by 1.6 times, and by 2010 - by 2.1 times. It is expected to ensure rapid growth of federal budget expenditures on education: from 32 billion rubles. in 2001 to 135 billion rubles. in 2005 and 240 billion rubles. in 2010;

Development of an expenditure planning system within the framework of a two-sector budget model: the first sector - ensuring budget financing standards per student; the second sector is the formation of a budget for the development of educational institutions that play a key role in the development of the entire education system or in the execution of the “innovation order” of the state, as well as funds for informatization and equipment updating; an increase in the share of these funds in the consolidated education budget to 5% in 2005 and 10% in 2010, in the federal budget - to 15 and 20%, respectively. State investments in educational institutions will be carried out mainly in the form of co-financing of projects selected on a competitive basis. This will help mobilize extra-budgetary funds from educational institutions;

Structural maneuver of resources within the education system. Real economic independence of educational institutions, the transition to normative funding per student, restructuring of the network of rural (small-graded) schools can provide internal savings in the amount of approximately 15% of existing funding through regional and local budgets (30 billion rubles in 2005 .). The redistribution of responsibility of the federal and regional budgets in relation to institutions of primary vocational education will make it possible to increase their funding in 2004 by approximately 5 billion rubles;

The existing mechanism of subsidiary responsibility of higher budgets for the fulfillment by lower budgets of state obligations and guarantees, including in the field of education, is not divided into types of responsibility, is not transparent for control and does not create incentives for lower budgets to fully mobilize funds for the implementation of federal mandates. To eliminate these shortcomings, as part of the reform of subsidiary responsibility of budgets, it would be possible to switch to a transparent system of targeted subventions for education for subsidized regions. This measure can be supplemented by an incentive mechanism for the formation of such subventions, in which a subsidized region that increases the share of its own funds for education and increases the efficiency of their use would receive an increased transfer over the next year. As a result, real expenditures of territorial budgets on education may grow at a faster pace than GDP growth, and their share in budgets will increase significantly.

The problem of mobilizing private funds into the education system, which currently faces serious limitations due to the low income of more than 70% of Russian families, is quite acute and controversial. According to available indirect estimates, today only 25-30% of families take part in financing the education of their children. The share of families showing interest in investing in education grows as their children complete general education and reaches a peak in the 10th-11th grades of secondary school.

It is assumed that as real incomes of the population grow, the share of families capable of investing in education may increase to 40-45% by 2010. At the same time, families belonging to the 5th-7th income deciles will be able to invest only very limited funds in education - from 3 to 10 thousand rubles. in year. It is possible to take these funds into account and coordinate their use with the execution of federal and local education budgets by linking them with personalized government funding as voluntary and transparent additions to such funding.

Taking into account the introduction of incentive mechanisms for budget financing, tax incentives for private investment in education (in particular, a reduction in the tax base taking into account the costs of education) and the rate of income growth by 2010, we can predict a significant increase in funds flowing into the educational sector from families.

Large reserves are also contained in organizing the effective use of funds from the business community as the main consumer of qualified personnel. Today, enterprise funds (approximately 10 billion rubles in 2000) flowing into the education sector can be divided into two streams. The first is payment for those educational programs in which the enterprises themselves are interested (mainly short programs of additional professional education and personnel training in secondary and primary vocational educational institutions); the second is sponsorship funds.

Demand from enterprises for educational services may increase as the real sector of the economy revives. With relatively balanced growth rates across industries, we can expect an increase in demand for education on their part by 4-5 times. An additional effect can be achieved by introducing tax benefits (including all costs of education in the costs of production of goods, works and services and excluding sponsorship funds from the tax base). It is predicted that sponsorship funds will grow at a less rapid pace; their volume by 2010 may amount to no more than 10-15 billion rubles. Taking into account orders for scientific development and R&D, the volume of funds received by enterprises for education can reach up to 50-60 billion rubles. (0.5% of GDP).

Additional income of the education system consists of commercial, non-educational activities (sale of their own products by universities, vocational schools and technical schools, rental of premises of educational institutions, etc.).

When looking for ways to solve the problems posed above, it is necessary to take into account drastic demographic changes. Thus, if until 2003 there was still an increase in the number of students graduating from secondary schools, then in 2004-2008. there will be a sharp reduction in the number of students in secondary schools, and from 2008 this process will fully affect higher education institutions.

Resources for the development of the education system include such new institutional phenomena, some of which are being experimentally tested as part of measures to modernize education, such as:

Personification of budget financing, which consists of a combination of normative financing per student and differentiated personalized budget financing of students within the framework of state guarantees for receiving education, which can be carried out in various forms (educational subsidy, personal financing, etc.), depending on associated goals and objectives solved by the state in the development of the education system;

Introduction of tax incentives for private investments in education, providing for a reduction in the taxable income tax base for expenses for payment for educational services, exemption from taxation of charitable donations for the development of education, a reduction in the taxable base of legal entities for income tax by including expenses for training or retraining of personnel in composition of production costs.

Another equally important prerequisite for the development of the education system is the establishment of academic and financial independence of educational institutions, that is, the full and consistent implementation of the legal status of the educational institution reflected in the Law of the Russian Federation “On Education”. It is in the field of education, based on the accumulated experience of economic and academic autonomy of universities, that it is possible to develop new economic principles for the functioning of all organizations in the socio-cultural sphere. These principles include:

Gradual equalization of the rights of state and non-state educational institutions with state accreditation;

Contractual forms of relations with the state and private customers, including direct recipients of educational services;

State accreditation and public state system of education quality control;

Transition from the allocation of funds according to expenditure items of the budget classification to financing with one indicator (fulfillment of the state personal financial obligation);

Expanding the rights of educational institutions to manage financial resources (in general education - with the participation of boards of trustees);

Granting educational organizations the right to independently approve cost estimates and change them accordingly;

Transparency and accessibility for public and state control of all financial activities of an educational organization, including the development of uniform reporting forms and the annual publication of financial reports;

Creation of easy-to-implement, unified and understandable procedures for spending funds based on competitive selection of suppliers of goods, works and services;

Effective use of real estate transferred by the owner to an educational institution for statutory purposes, guaranteed exclusion of the possibility of withdrawing from circulation in the educational sphere property objects assigned to state and municipal educational institutions. The approval of these approaches will not only extend to all educational institutions the principles of freedom of academic and economic organization, which allowed Russian universities to survive in the 1990s, but will also eliminate the contradictions between the budgetary nature and economic independence of such institutions.

From the listed prerequisites and resources for the development of the education system, it is clear that in managing its development, along with the substantive issues of education that are under the jurisdiction of pedagogical science, management through the reorganization and improvement of economic relations in the field of education is of great importance. Today, it seems appropriate to reorganize economic relations in the general education system, which involves the division of budgetary financing of educational institutions, institutional financing (i.e., direct financing of educational institutions from budgets of all levels) and budgetary funds coming into the system from students. This means that educational institutions are financed from the budget in proportion to the number of students (normative funding) in amounts that provide the conditions and volume of educational services necessary to implement the minimum requirements of the federal and national-regional components of the state educational standard. The budgetary funding standard is guaranteed and fixes the minimum amount of financial resources per year per student, ensuring the realization of the rights of citizens to free general education. Additional educational services beyond the standard are paid for for all students. For students from low-income families, these costs should be fully or partially reimbursed in the form of social support.

This approach will help stabilize the economic situation of the system of general education institutions, strengthen guarantees for the implementation of the constitutional rights of citizens to receive an education, and streamline the attraction of funds into the education system.

To use these mechanisms, it is necessary, in addition to introducing normative budgetary financing of educational institutions, to streamline existing inter-budgetary relations, introduce a mechanism of two-level budgetary financing and transfer state powers in the field of education with corresponding resources to a lower budget level, move from a system of impersonal and unprotected transfers to subventions and subsidies for subsidized regions and municipalities.

CONCLUSION

It is obvious that the Russian education system is still, for the most part, overly theorized and poorly aimed at practical application, and is not flexible enough in modern conditions. For example, in most cases, after receiving a diploma of higher education, a person has to incur additional costs (material, time) for retraining, that is, the effectiveness of investments in human capital in a number of Russian educational institutions can be called into question. At the same time, there is a shortage of specialists in a wide range of areas, which can be confirmed, for example, by the significant increase in recent years in the number of foreign managers in a number of companies whose development strategies are focused on international standards.

According to the Concept for the Modernization of Russian Education until 2010, approved by the Government on October 25, 2001, education is expected to be reformed in two stages:

1. At the first stage (2001–2003), it is necessary to fully restore the responsibility of the state in the field of education, reaching the minimum required budgetary standards, and solving socially significant problems. The modernization of education unfolds and occurs in the context of the general process of reforming various aspects of life, in close interaction with other reforms, at the same time being a source for them to provide the necessary human resources.

2. At the second stage (2004–2005), it is necessary to implement measures on a full scale, in particular those that were experimentally tested at the first stage and received support after evaluating the results, to introduce new models of educational content, its organization and financing. During the second stage, resource provision for education will be expanded, primarily from budgets at all levels.

3. In 2006–2010 The first results of education modernization should be visible:

o growth of its resource availability;

o real improvement in the quality of general and vocational education;

o reduction of social tension in society;

o by increasing the salaries of education workers, an increase in social status and an improvement in the quality of the teaching corps, and its rejuvenation will be ensured;

o increasing the competitiveness and investment attractiveness of vocational education as a result of updating the material and technical base and adapting to labor markets.

We can say that the problem of education reform falls into two main areas:

1. Reform of the educational process;

2. Reform of the wage system for public sector workers.

Conclusion: of course, Russia needs education reform. Under the current system, one cannot count on a significant increase in human capital, which, in principle, determines the prospects for the development of the entire economy. Scientists around the world have already come to the conclusion that the most important resource of an economy is human resource, the possession of which on a country scale determines its position in the world. Of course, another important factor is the use of this resource, that is, to what extent the state can give people the opportunity to realize their accumulated potential. However, if this potential is wasted, it may take years to restore it, and the first problem can be solved in a much shorter time. Thus, with the Government’s inaction in this direction, Russia’s competitiveness in the world will decrease every year.

According to the General Director of the Russian Economic Society Denis Mukhanov, education reform, first of all, must be carried out in the context of a fundamental improvement in quality, namely, who teaches and how in Russian educational institutions, to what extent this is applicable in real life and corresponds to the realities of today. Why, given the vaunted quality of our education, do citizens continue to send their children abroad?

So, the reform of the Russian education system should consist of the following activities:

1. A sharp increase in salaries and stricter requirements for teachers. We need strict recertification of teaching staff, as a result of which 10–20% of them will lose the right to teach, attracting specialists for teaching from real sectors of the economy;

2. The fight against corruption in the teaching and teaching environment;

3. Investments in the material base of education (buildings, sports facilities, computer equipment, etc.);

4. Improving teaching methods taking into account specialization, evaluating textbooks by independent specialists, radical reform of the system of teaching foreign languages;

5. Speaking about school - the return of discipline. Has anyone ever wondered why, for example, the most prestigious schools abroad always have school uniforms?

Thus, we are not yet talking about a full-fledged education reform. Russia is losing in training young people, and the breadth of outlook of its best students does not compensate for this. A weak school equals a weak state.

LITERATURE

1) Balykhin G.A. Current issues of socio-economic development of the Russian education system // Economics of Education. 2004. No. 3.

2) Bethlehemsky A.B. Problems of reforming the remuneration system in education and the economics of knowledge // Economics of Education. 2004. No. 3.

3) Davydova E.A. Analysis of the market of educational services in modern Russia // Economics of Education. 2004. No. 5.

4) Eroshin V.I. Economics, law and education management: problems, research, solutions // News of the Russian Academy of Education. 2002. No. 2.

5) Usova A.V. Problems of reforming the education system // News of the Russian Academy of Education. 2002. No. 2.

7) Economics of education in the mirror of statistics // Economics of education. 2005. No. 5

8) Official website of the Russian Economic Society: http://www.ress.ru/

9) Republic of Mari El in numbers // Statistical collection. Yoshkar-Ola. 2006.

10) Social status and standard of living of the population of the region. Mari El // Statistical collection. Yoshkar-Ola. 2005.

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