Comprehensive simulation modeling when planning the work of the admission campaign of a Russian university

An analysis of the results of admission campaigns in Russian universities in 2023-2024 has shown that the introduction of a new system of priority areas facilitated the education process, though the struggle of universities to successfully attract applicants did not disappear. Regional universities are forced to compete with each other for school graduates and actively promote their educational programs so that consumers choose them over competitors. The relevance of this issue is to evaluate the results of the interaction between applicants and the university during the admission period. The research conducted at Vladivostok State University (VVSU) in the fall of 2024 among first-year students included 2 stages: the identification of factors determining the applicants’ choice of a university and the development of models for making management decisions during the admission campaign in the analyzed year. The paper considered simulation modeling, which helps find optimal solutions and clearly understand the complex system. Foreign and domestic studies steadily use this type of modeling. Comprehensive simulation modeling combines a dynamic agent model and system dynamics, which allows studying simultaneously the activities of university admission campaigns in the implementation of educational services and the behavior of applicants when choosing a university in a competitive environment. The scientific hypothesis of the study was the assumption that comprehensive simulation modeling will help optimize the work of the admission campaign in the implementation of educational services. The results of the study on the implementation of university educational services in 2024 identified the main factors influencing the choice of a university, its specialties and areas of study and confirmed the hypothesis that the complexity of modeling improves the quality of selecting applicants for full-time higher education at VVSU and optimizes the work of the admission campaign. The methodological basis of the study is the theoretical generalization of scientific literature, comparative analysis and synthesis, as well as modeling.