Kostina Nataliya B.

Quality control of higher education is considered on the basis of applying the approach presented in foreign and national management and sociological knowledge, according to which quality has indicators that can be measured. In this interpretation, quantity is an indicator (property) of the quality of an object. Another important methodological idea presented in the national knowledge is to justify the fact that qualities have properties that can be measured, that quantitative indicators are applicable to assess the quality of education in the process of managing the latter. The article proves that the quality of education policy and quality control are complementary phenomena. Quality management includes not only the functions that need to be performed in order to achieve the appropriate quality of education, but also the development of the educational project policy itself. The most essential elementary properties of educational policy are revealed. The actual quality of educational projects is insufficient, which determines the need for an evaluation approach to educational policy that allows determining its desired level. The choice of evaluation criteria depends on the elements of the policy being evaluated. In addition to the elementary properties of education policy, integrative quantitative quality indicators are inherent. The article considers such an indicator as the level and scale of students’ training, its features (multi-factority, multiplicity of its components, specifics of competence assessment), on the basis of this, the concept of “education quality control” is clarified. The specifics of quality control of higher education (in comparison with the existing one in the sphere of production of goods and services) is related to quality planning, which includes the development and implementation of various measures to improve the education process without fixing planned indicators. Evaluation of achievements is possible only after the implementation of activities by comparing the results achieved and previous ones. This type of education quality control is defined as the hypotheses management.

The main purpose of the study is to monitor the public consciousness of residents of the Sverdlovsk region and to assess the social mood and well-being of the population during the period of restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic. To obtain data, the research group of the Department of Management Theory and Sociology of the Ural Institute of Management - Branch of the RANEPA conducted a sociological study in the form of an online survey of residents of the region. The total sample size is 1000 people. The assessment indicators are the awareness of the population of the Sverdlovsk region about the pandemic, trust in various sources of information, attitude to the measures taken by the authorities to counter the spread of infection, and the impact of isolation on the well-being and financial situation of citizens. The study revealed the dependence of the populations attitude to what is associated with coronavirus infection and the established regime of self-isolation on the sources of information received and trust in them. For most of the population, this is the Internet, social networks, and information received from relatives and friends. Central TV channels are trusted by less than half of the respondents. Official statements do not inspire confidence in about a third of citizens, and regional leaders have a little more confidence in information about the pandemic than Federal leaders. These and other research results are of practical significance for carrying out preventive work with the population, searching for additional information channels, and making up a dialogue between the authorities and citizens to avoid social destabilization in the region.

The article is devoted to the study of the arrangement of a transport university activity with students and applicants as the main actors of career-oriented interaction. The article substantiates the theoretical and methodological foundations of the analysis of the selected issues: understanding of the essence of managerial problems of the organization of a career guidance activity as an order, coordination of actions of participating subjects-organizers and actors of the career guidance process; the concept of types of career guidance activities of the University (introduced in the papers by G. F. Shafranov-Kutsev and S. N. Tolstoguzov). The empirical part is based on the analysis of data from a survey of first-year students of the Ural State University of Railway Transport in order to identify the effectiveness of the organization of career guidance, factors that influence the choice of profession and a university; to determine the directions and forms of career guidance interaction between the university and graduates of general education institutions. The results of the study suggest that young people at the stage of choosing a profession and where to get it need professional guidance. Yesterday s students, and now first-year students, recognize the need and importance of this area of activity. The strategy of building a professional trajectory for a significant part of the surveyed students corresponds to the formula of choosing a profession ”1 want - I can - I must”: there is a focus on interest in the profession, taking into account the results of the Unified State Exam and demand in the labor market. The main sources of information when choosing a university are the official website of the university, advice from friends and relatives, reference books about educational institutions for applicants, and social networks. On the basis of the analysis conclusions are made about the use of propagating, selective, student-centered approaches to career guidance in USURT, dedicated career-oriented events aimed at formation of an attractive image of the university and promote transport related professions, formulated specific recommendations for improving the organization of vocational guidance.

The article is devoted to the consideration of the significance of institutional and neo-institutional approaches for the sociological analysis of the quality of secondary vocational education. Highlighted key areas of transformation of secondary vocational education, the basis for the implementation of which is its quality. The article considers approaches to the interpretation of the quality of education, substantiates the specificity of the sociological approach to both secondary vocational education and its quality. The characteristic of the neoinstitutional approach, types of neoinstitutionalism, which are the methodology of a sociological theoretical and empirical analysis of the quality of secondary vocational education, is given. The development models of open source software that determine its institutional transformations are considered.

Purpose. Identify the content of transparency of public authorities, its main components, the importance for improving the effectiveness of social management. Methods. Theoretical interpretation of transparency and efficiency of public administration, generalized analysis of empirical, confirming theoretical conclusions. Subject. Substantiation of transparency of executive authorities as a factor in effective management of the social sphere. Scientific novelty. The essence of transparency is defined as the properties of interactions and relations between managers (authorities) and managed subjects (actors of social actions), which is a factor in the effectiveness of state management of the social sphere, achievement of the final result, and not intermediate goals. Results. The article substantiates that effective administration by the social sphere consists in creating favorable conditions for the activity of the population and its natural reproduction, estimated on the basis of the ratio of resources spent and the result obtained. The prerequisite for quality and effective state management is the constant interaction, bilateral communication between citizens who are consumers of social services and public authorities. The most important component of this interaction is transparency, understood as a property of the environment, which has an impact on the final result of the implementation of social policy, the interactions of various social and professional groups, the relations of managing subjects and actors of social action. The types of transparency are identified: governmental, commercial, socially responsible, transparent as "transparency and accountability", the content of such types of transparency as government and "transparency and accountability"

Purpose. To define the specific features of formation and implementation of the national educational strategies and their differences from the business strategies. Methods. The author's position is presented through the use of the process, situational and evolutionary approaches and the comparative analysis of development and implementation of strategic projects by public authorities and by business organisations. Object. Methodology of developing and implementing national education strategies, identification of types of national strategies in the field of higher education depending on conditions and subjects of implementation. Novelty. Comparative analysis is carried out of the process of development and implementation of strategies by national bodies and by business organization management. Conditions and subjects of national strategies in the field of higher education are identified. The ratio of strategic and current educational policy is provided. Opportunities and limitations are revealed of applying the ideas and practices of strategic management of business organizations for strategic management at universities. Results. The article justifies that the subject of strategic management of education at national level is the state policy in the field of education itself. The national strategies are identified as subject goals, objectives-states adopted by the government in the field of education. The following differences have been formulated: strategic and reforming plans, strategic and administrative planning. The perception of national strategies concerning universities is proposed as a project to grant universities the right of taking strategic decisions regarding potential problems. The typology of national strategies in the field of higher education is provided depending on distribution of powers between the subjects of management of universities in future, on the powers of public bodies. Strategies as part of the strategic project at university level are considered, their specific features as compared to the strategic projects of business organizations are revealed.

Purpose. To study the perceptions of employers owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises on labor orientations of modern students. Methods. Experimental methods, documents analysis were used for collecting primary information and the analysis is based on both primary and secondary data. Results. The research, on the one hand, allowed for generalizing the perceptions of the views of representatives of small and medium-sized businesses on the orientations of students towards work, on the other hand, for formulating recommendations on the ways of interaction of universities, businesses and government to encourage the development of competencies necessary for young people for their orientation to work in small and medium-sized businesses. The research revealed that in spite of the attractiveness of the entrepreneur’s image, based on vertical mobility, self-sufficiency, material well-being and many other features the formation and development of small and medium entrepreneurship as a potential employer becomes unattractive for to-be young employees. University students do not consider private business as a guaranteed job. Scientific novelty. The employers’ perceptions of the university graduates’ orientation to work in small and medium enterprises are disclosed. The specifics of the impact of employers’ requirements factors and students’ expectations are revealed. The need for finding ways of interaction between universities and businesses is justified.

Purpose. To analyse the existing pension policies of youth in the context of the reform of the pension system of the Russian Federation, to identify dominant orientations at different ways of pension benefits development. Methods. Applied sociological study is performed as a qualitative research strategy. The authors used in-depth interview method and the method of focus-groups as the methods of data collection. The analysis of the obtained empirical information is made through building qualitative typologies. Results. The study identified a range of factors that determine paternalistic or partnership orientation of young generation groups in developing future pension benefits. Youth targeting at the paternalistic model of future pension benefits development is the dominant orientation (youth expects that their pension benefits problems will be solved by the State). A small percentage of young people (not very much), is ready to invest a portion of their incomes in their future pension, but not pension funds, while traditional sources of investment: real estate, deposits, securities, believing that this would solve the pension issue in the future. Scientific novelty. • Defining the inconsistency between decisions of public authorities to improve pension provision for citizens, and willingness of the young generation of modern Russia to participate in implementation of those decisions. • Identifying youth generation groups willing to participate in interactions with the State on issues of future pension benefits development. • Application of qualitative strategy of sociological research to identify the effectiveness of the authorities' activities of pension benefits development. Financing. The study is done with the financial support of RGNF within the research project "Retirement strategies of the younger generation of the Russians," project № 15-33-01012.

Purpose. Analysis of the role and specific goals of the state in the context of strategic management. Methodology and methods. On the basis of socio-managerial and market-strategic approaches to public administration the authors carried out a comparative and a retrospective analysis of the foundations of strategic management by the state. Results and scientific novelty. The article defines the concept of market-strategic management, the implementation of which is based on a partnership between the state and market actors in the field of strategic management; the role of the state in this interaction which is to optimize the total strategy of business entities is substantiated; difference between the mobilization and the market-strategic concepts is provided; the specific content of public policies in the field of economy, their quantitative and qualitative forms are examined; specific and functional objectives of public policies are considered.