Prospects for the development of the higher education: Probable scenarios and their implementation in universities

The article considers the urgent issues of assessing the development of the higher education institutions under the significant changes in the higher education system. The author analyzes the situation in the Russian society to identify factors that determine the directions of universities development under difficult market relations and constant competition. The mechanisms of university changes, although based on different criteria, generally aim at achieving the strategic guideline of innovative development to help the university to take its rightful place in the educational market and to become financially independent, for which it is necessary to design the future of universities according to the chosen path of the development. The author describes some probable scenarios for the development of the higher education system, based on the events and reforms in the scientific and educational fields, taking into account the current socio-economic and political situation. The author makes an analogy between the predicted vectors of the development of the higher education institutions and new types of universities as a basis of the proposed scenarios implementation. Thus, the general scenario of the higher education system development on the basis of research universities is complemented by alternative scenarios based on new types of universities - entrepreneurial, innovative, network, and virtual. Such scenarios are relevant as indicators of understanding the state of the higher education system and can help to find new ways of university management and optimal forms of university functioning.