Frontier university: on the way to new generation development institutions

The article analyzes various approaches and grounds for singling out the leading universities. The criteria used in compiling various university ratings are considered; four ideal models are identified and the real ratings are correlated with these models. There is a tendency towards the formation of more balanced ratings, which take into account many aspects of the superiority of universities. Also considered is the concept of a world-class university, proposed by P. Altbach, D. Salmi and I. D. Frumin. The concept of the «frontier university» is proposed, which reflects a special type of university leadership and the type of development institution adequate to the challenges of the 21st century. The special position, mission, task, subjects of frontier university activity are considered. It acts as a subject and «platform» for deployment of new directions of science, technology, social practices that expand the horizon of the existence of mankind, create fundamentally new opportunities for cognition, production, social and personal life («set the future»). The University of Berlin, the Higher School of Economics, Kazan Federal University, North-Eastern Federal University, Singularity University are considered as precedents (universities that in some sense implement the idea of the Frontier University).