Background. Given the contemporary realities, the need to improve the educa[1]tional system in Russia is becoming more and more acute. Such improvements are necessary in terms of implementation of national goals and strategic objectives for Russia’s development, of creation of a sovereign national education system and of strengthening the country’s unified educational space (including new regions). They also encompass compliance of students’ training with the requirements of contemporary information society and with the global trends in strategic academic development as well as the formation of knowledge and skills demanded by the labor market both in the near future and in the long-term prospect. In this regard, it is essential to comprehensively assess the challenges facing the educational system and to propose possible solutions on the part of the university community aimed at the achievement of the goals and objectives, both within the framework of existing national projects and programmes and for the medium-term prospects.

Methods. An interdisciplinary approach and structural-functional analysis of education issues in the context of Russia’s national projects and objectives of strategic development constitute the methodological basis of the article.

Results. The author outlines the main tasks to be solved and the directions in the work of the Russian university community. The article shows the directions for reforming mathematical, chemical, physical, and engineering education. It emphasizes the importance and significance of basic science training in higher education. It substantiates opportunities for strengthening the regional base of personnel training as well as gives recommendations for building a sovereign education system and forming a unified educational space. It also highlights the importance of educational work and patriotic education in universities. The directions in the work of the university corporation, proposed in the article, are in fact a programme document for the higher school for the current period and for the future.

Background. The revival of the best Russian traditions of children’s reading is recognized by the pedagogical community as the most important way to counter the crisis in the field of intellectual development of children at the levels of preschool, primary and general education. This formulation of the question is based on global sociocultural shifts that have entailed rapid and significant changes in the child’s general outlook, his reading range, and his set of key reading skills. The high artistic level and enormous educational potential of Russian literature are prerequisites for the revival of Russian traditions of children’s reading. The path to understanding literature lies through learning to read. It is this skill that is considered as a fundamental and no alternative condition for the development of all other various aspects of education and spirituality.

Methods. The article, based on extensive historical material, presents the development of ideas of education through the artistic word, reflected in the works of N.I. Novikov, I.F. Timkovsky, I.I. Sreznevsky, I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay, F.I. Buslaev, P.G. Redkin, K.D. Ushinsky, L.N. Modzalevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, Kayum Nasyri, N.A. Rubakin, G.G. Shpet, L.S. Vygotsky, A.V. Lunacharsky, M. Gorky, K.I. Chukovsky, S.Ya. Marshak, E.N. Ilyina.

Results. It is shown that Russian pedagogical tradition, from the moment of its inception, is based on a solid foundation of the unity of teaching and upbringing of the younger generation on national values and traditions of Russian literature, with respect for the child’s personality and characteristics. Particular attention is paid to the role of children’s literature in the spiritual and moral development of a person, the education of a devoted citizen of his Fatherland.

The article provides an overview of the history of the development of Russian language teaching in the PRC, highlighting the main stages and their features. It is noted that teaching the Russian language in the PRC has always been associated with the national strategy for training personnel for the socio-economic development of the country, that is, setting educational goals and developing curricula are always carried out taking into account the immediate future and long-term plans for the modernization of the country. Analysis of the changes that took place in the field of Russian-language education in China at different stages made it possible to rethink and generalize the accumulated positive experience and at the same time highlight the shortcomings and bottlenecks in the process of organizing the teaching of the Russian language, outline steps to overcome them and improve the Russian-language education system as a whole. Using the example of Harbin Polytechnic University (HPU), the main characteristics of a comprehensive model for teaching the Russian language to students of engineering and technical specialties have been identified.