The principles of the development strategy for regional universities in the context of the new higher education focus

The research substantiates the principles of the development strategy designed for regional universities in terms of the new focus of higher education. The key ones include the principles of continuing education, regional priorities, advanced development, customer-centered, system-based as well as sectoral, regional, and problem-based approaches. Adherence to these principles makes it possible to train highly skilled specialists in accordance with the requirements of regional policy; meet the needs of regions and relevant economic sectors for staff; hold a dialog with higher education service consumers; guarantee the priority development of the higher education system as a factor in the accelerated development of the territory; take a problem-based approach to the strategy for improving regional educational institutions; provide their optimal functioning as a single system with its subsystems. The emphasis is placed on the system-based strategy for creating the image of a regional university which consists of value, cognitive, regulatory, target, symbolic, and motivational subsystems.