WORLD EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT: REVIEW, COMPARISON, DATA ANALYSIS

The analysis of the major world statistical data on education confirms the recent trend aimed at the increase in management’s attention all over the world to the issues of education. Therefore, the desire of management of universities and governments to enhance the world attractiveness of higher education institutions requires being aware of the world educational environment, and that confirms the importance of this research. Based on the global database Euromonitor and other statistical sources the author has analyzed the overall expenses on education in the world countries, the share of higher education in the amount of all the exported services, the import share of educational services in the total volume of market transactions, as well as the total expenditure on import of educational services. Globally, according to the forecasts, government and consumer spending on education will continue to grow, particularly in the countries with developing economies. The increasing role of education will continue to provide more and more opportunities to people and companies. The paper studies the situation with the Russian education, outlines the area of the current reforms in higher education, such as: higher education funding, changing its structure and increasing competitiveness of Russian universities. In solving the problem of lack of funding for higher education the author describes the options for the progression of events. The difference between the structures of the Russian higher education and the foreign one is defined by a number of features inherent in Russian secondary school, which are revealed in the paper. The performed study has allowed predicting the following forecast: taking into account the complication of the economic and political situation in the international field, Russian universities should be prepared for the increasing competition for students.