OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS FOR DEVELOPING EDUCATIONAL SERVICES EXPORT BY UNIVERSITIES OF THE CHELYABINSK REGION: MOTIVATION AND CHOICE OF STUDENTS

Abstract

Introduction The article presents an assessment of the prospects for developing export of Russian education to other countries of the world. Taking into account the objectives of the national project "Education", which includes the federal project "Export of Education", the authors have developed a methodology to study the specifics of this area, have assessed the real prospects, opportunities and threats in the regional implementation of the federal project, as exemplified by Chelyabinsk’s and the Chelyabinsk region’s universities. The authors take into account both the real opportunities for foreign students to be trained in the Chelyabinsk region’s universities and the criteria and priorities of young people from foreign countries, on the basis of which they select the place and specific university for training. The aim of the paper is to study possibilities and prospects of developing educational services export by the Chelyabinsk region’s universities with the help of the Chelyabinsk branch of the RANEPA and to draw up recommendations. Methods. In the framework of the study, the authors use comparison and systematization methods, which make it possible to obtain information about foreign students’ needs, peculiarities of education in Russian universities, methods for studying, generalizing and analyzing the experience of education export practice, a social research based on questionnaires to monitor the dynamics of education export in regional universities developed by the RANEPA Competence Center of international services of educational organizations. Scientific novelty of the study. A large-scale analysis of foreign students’ needs and peculiarities of the export activities of the Chelyabinsk region’s higher educational institutions make it possible to determine the specifics of this area, assessing the real prospects, opportunities and threats in the regional implementation of the federal project. Results. The results of the study are the opportunities to assess the prospects for recruiting foreign students and setting goals both at the regional and federal levels, as well as developing the education system as such, the main users of which are Russian citizens, and the tasks of exporting Russian education to other countries of the world. These tasks are not alternative; they complement each other and create an additional development resource due to the synergistic effects of these areas interaction. Conclusions. In modern conditions, the export of education is considered as a vector of the territory socio-economic development, as a social activity, it does not have an unambiguous approach, addressing the issues of the language barrier and legal support. The current situation is a serious problem for attracting foreign students, the solution of which will make it possible to develop this direction in Russian universities. It is necessary to generalize the experience available in various universities. At the same time, one should take into account both the real possibilities of universities in the Chelyabinsk region for recruiting and training foreign students, as well as the criteria and priorities of young people from foreign countries, on the basis of which they select the place and specific university for training.