Development prospects of higher education system after forced distancing: expert assessment

The article analyzes the development trends of the higher education system with restrictions imposed to prevent the spreading of coronavirus infection on March-April 2020. The instability of the situation justifying the prolongation of restrictions necessitates the re-evaluation of the prospects and trends in higher education and science. With this new reality gradually becoming a new normality the implementation of these trends may change its priority, duration and form. The aim is to update the list of short-term and long-term development trends of the higher education system to analyze their adjustability to the forced transformation of educational institutions’ functioning under restrictions. The identified trends are validated through the publications of Russian and foreign experts in the field of education, public administration, information technology, and business. The measures and decisions taken in the field of education and science at the beginning of the pandemic and medium-term trends identified before the pandemic are considered for their relevance and the degree of transformation by new phenomena and technologies. The results of the research present a list of short-term and long-term trends in higher education, supported by expert opinions on the prospects for their realization. These trends provide a reference point in determining the factors, sources and directions of development of a modern university, offering areas of analysis and discussion. It’s relevant to the activities of universities, ministries of education in the formation of regional and national higher education development strategies.