A Study of the Competitiveness of Leading Russian Universities Using Statistical Analysis Methods

The purpose of the study: this article is aimed at identifying the factors of competitiveness of Russian universities. The purpose of the article is to study the competitiveness of leading Russian universities using statistical analysis methods. Materials and methods of research. Based on the analysis of scientific papers, the article examines the positions of the educational program in the higher education competitiveness management system, and offers the author’s vision of the elements of the educational program, including structure, technology, and content. The authors have formulated and empirically proved a scientific hypothesis that the competitiveness of educational programs of Russian educational institutions of higher education is largely determined by the right to implement such educational programs in accordance with the Higher Education Standard. The Pearson matrix of paired coefficients of mutual conjugacy was used as a toolkit; the construction of a goal tree based on the target index “The availability of the Higher Education Standard”. A sample of 95 leading educational institutions of higher education was processed, of which 98% are participants in the strategic program “Priority” and 40% implement educational programs in accordance with the requirements of the Higher Education Standard. Results. The results of constructing a matrix of paired Pearson coefficients of mutual conjugacy revealed a significant correlation between the availability of the right to implement educational programs in accordance with the requirements of the Higher Education Standard and most monitoring indexes, such as the number of students, the average score of the Unified State Exam (both for students admitted to the budget and for students admitted on an extra-budgetary basis) and the incomes of educational institutions of higher education. High correlation values were also revealed between the indexes characterizing the total income of the university, the income of educational institutions of higher education from extra-budgetary sources and the income of educational institutions of higher education per academic staff member, which is due to the high share of income from educational activities in the income structure of the studied educational organizations. It is also worth noting the high level of training of applicants admitted to leading universities, which is evidenced by the high correlation between the average score of the Unified State Exam of students accepted for the budget and the average score of the Unified State Exam of students accepted on an extra-budgetary basis. The results of constructing a goal tree for the target index “Availability of the Higher Education Standard” showed a higher proportion of master’s students among the student body at universities implementing educational programs in accordance with the requirements of the Higher Education Standard. Conclusion. Based on the results of the study, the authors concluded that currently, the fact that educational organizations have the right to implement educational programs in accordance with the requirements of the Higher Education Standard ensures greater flexibility in the chosen educational model and the ability to adapt it to changing external conditions, and has a positive impact on the key performance indexes of educational organizations and their level of competitiveness.