Current state of scientific and expert discourse on trends in the development of Russian higher education

At the beginning of 2023, the magazine “Standard of Living of the Population of Russian Regions” initiated the publication of a series of articles that focused on educational reforms in Russia, namely the analysis of what has been accomplished and the development of the main directions and provisions for modernizing the education system of the Russian Federation while preserving the features of national tradition. The purpose of this article is: firstly, a brief summary of the positions of experts regarding various aspects of Russian education reforms in retrospect and in the future, secondly, to identify those issues that are not properly reflected in these publications, thirdly, to present our own views on the direction’s development of Russian higher education in modern conditions. The authors highlighted: “Points of agreement”, combining episodes with symbolic headings a - “Forward to the past” and vice versa”, b - “Pendulum of educational state policy” and c -“And again about the Bologna system”, thus uniting the opinions of the participants of the correspondence discussions. Next, the “Special Positions” of each and the “Lack of Attention” to certain modern realities of educational processes were identified, namely, to issues related to the processes of ongoing internationalization of higher education, which are the objective reality of the 21st century and which must be taken into account regardless of the tactical maneuvers of the political elite and the changing situation in world politics. Today, the vectors of educational mobility of students and teachers have changed their direction from West to East. Therefore, it is timely to raise the question not only about reforming the higher education system at the level of the national state, but also about the possibility and feasibility of creating a certain Russian-centric model of higher education as a macro-regional (meaning the Russian Federation-CIS-APR-Africa region) educational center. In conclusion, the main provisions of the pilot project for the reform of higher education, starting in six universities in the country for the period 2023-2026 academic years, are considered.