Management improvement of higher school potential

The article presents characteristic of higher school potential as a social economic category. Being treated systematically, the higher school potential is a complex of interacting elements having a structure, which, in its turn, is described by a complex of permanent relations, ties and dependencies. For the higher school a potential, as a system, is characterised by continuity, proportionality of elements, proportionality of parts of an element. The higher school potential, as a system, is described by a balance, hierarchy, functional uninterruptedness.The article claims that the specific role must be given to the most important element of pedagogical and research-technical activities –to the human intellectual potential. It should be noted that the economic and social activities become more intellectual; accordingly in manufacture of products, goods and services the intellectual activities take a more important place. Therefore the pedagogical and research-technical activities in a higher school, as one of the most important generator and supplier of innovations in economic and social field, should have the highest potential in human intellect –the research-pedagogical intellectual potential. The persons wishing to work in pedagogical and research-technical activities at a higher school, must have exclusive capabilities, research intuition, pedagogical mastership and other properties, without which they do not suit for this kind of activities.In the article the conception and definition are suggested, the text describes functions of higher school potential, exposes it ̳s content, results of it ̳s functioning. The article claims that the potential of a higher school under the conditions of market economy performs the following functions:1)marketing function (including diagnostic and analytical ones);2)study programmes, corresponding to economic needs development and realisation;3)scientific forecast (prognosis);4)development andrealisation of innovations (pedagogic, scientific-technical);5)innovations realisation in practice.The functioning of a higher school potential under an increasing competition requires an active development of a marketing function.