No 4 (62) (2023)

University education, boasting a more than a thousand years history, has evolved from small associations united by scientific interests to an important branch of intellectual manufacturing, providing a flow of highly qualified specialists into the labor market. Today, the education system has to maintain a balance between traditional and innovative teaching methods, to monitor right along and implement effective solutions found by participants in the educational process. Moscow Metropolitan Governance Yury Luzhkov University uses a system of measures to improve the quality of education, providing management personnel for all sectors of the city economy and social sphere of the City of Moscow. The involvement of practitioners as teachers, advanced training of teaching staff, close interaction with authorities as well as with their subordinate institutions, targeted positioning of the university in the urban space, and the creation and maintenance of a university community – all this helps facilitate the dynamic high-quality development of the university.

Over the past ten years, schools have undergone considerable changes that provide them being really modern. The key processes that determine the life of the Moscow capital educational institutions create the basis for children’s well-being in the current meaning of the word. The term “child well-being” has been treated in a new way nowadays, therefore schools and colleges are restructuring their work processes to meet the needs of Muscovites with schoolchildren. Today, parents are interested not only in academic results, but also in safety, psychological comfort, and the opportunity for their child to acquire social and cultural capital within the walls of the school. A united educational environment has been created in Moscow. Its technical base is digital platform solutions that allow all the participants of the educational process to interact with each other online. Parents can coordinate children remotely during the school day. A unified education ecosystem has been created in Moscow that includes various organizations of the city, so that the school interacts with many partners, involving them in the educational process.

The Moscow education system has been undergoing major changes over the past ten years. Dramatic shifts are noticeable in general education and in the equipment of schools. The transformation in higher education has been noticeable, especially since 2020, when universities and academies faced the challenges of lockdowns due to COVID-19 pandemic. The world is changing, as well as the higher education system: both the infrastructure and the people who work in it and develop it. Today universities have to tackle numerous questions: are they ready to respond to the nowadays challenges? How the role of the teacher and his relationship with students are being transformed? What prospects for social and economic development should be taken into account, and what risks should be foreseen? At the round table, professors and experts of Moscow Metropolitan Governance Yury Luzhkov University discussed the main content of the work of a university teacher today and expressed their opinions about the place of digital technologies in his work. They talked about the changes to do in the coming years and onwards.

In the second half of the 20th century in the world scientific circles, the concept of “metropolis” began to increasingly come into use. Today, scientists, sociologists and political scientists use the concept of “global city” as applied to large cities, united by multimodal corridors into a global network of key centers of business, investment, cultural and political activity. At each next stage of urban development, a change in strategic paradigms and new management tools are necessary. The Capital of Russia is one of the world’s largest megacities on the planet. It accounts for more than 25% of the national GDP and about 50% of direct investment in the Russian economy. The current stage of Moscow’s development is marked by a transition to a qualitatively new level of support for the capital’s industrial enterprises and entrepreneurs. Thanks to city financial programs for small and medium-sized businesses, managed by the Moscow Fund for Support of Industry and Entrepreneurship, the city will continue to move forward, maintaining a leading position in the global economic system.

The Moscow education system is rapidly transforming. There is an increasing need for managers who possess high-level management competencies, are able to quickly master and implement effective tools into practice, and solve problems of increased complexity. To remain productive, a manager needs constant self-development. Moscow Metropolitan Governance Yury Luzhkov University, together with the City of Moscow Department of Education and Science, is implementing a number of projects for the training and development of managers and members of management teams of educational organizations, including the MPA “Management in Education” professional retraining program. Participants, while learning, practice in solving transformation problems, complex, non-standard situations and working with a team. Already during the training, participants are able to change their organization for the better.

Motivation to learn is one of the key factors influencing the success of the learning process. The problem of motivation for adult students is very relevant. Motivation to learn in adults is of great importance for their personal development and professional growth. It is no less crucial at the social level when it comes to training civil servants, since the quality of management of a city, region, state, and its socio-economic development depend on their professionalism. It may be associated with the desire to achieve success in the chosen field of activity, the need for self-development, communicating with interesting people, and broadening one’s horizons. To effectively build the learning process, one should consider the specific characteristics of adult students – their life experience, formed self-esteem, expectations and value guidelines. It is necessary to create conditions for learning that will contribute to the development of internal motivation in adults, a willingness to strive to acquire new knowledge for the sake of their personal interests and professional well-being.

Kuskovo is now a museum & park, but formerly an estate, created according to the fashion of the 18th century. It has been always attracting visitors. Under Count Peter Sheremetev, the estate with regular and landscape gardens, park pavilions and other “amusements” reached the peak of its landscape and architectural development, becoming one of the best examples of landscape gardening art in Russia and the prototype of future amusement parks. In the 1970s and 1980s restoration work was carried out in Kuskovo Estate, but its level was far from what was needed for an ensemble of great historical and cultural value. In 2018-2020 a new restoration project was developed, according to which it was proposed to restore the appearance of the compositional and planning elements. Work was carried out on the scientific restoration of the Alley of Games, the Italian game garden “Malia”, the Air Theater, the Stalls, the Italian garden, the rose garden, the herb garden, etc. In the further development of the estate park, the lost elements will be restored – the Belvedere, the Chinese pavilion, the Doric gallery.