The article suggests a methodology for evaluating the social and communication management resources, as well as reviews the results of a number of empiric studies carried out in the higher education institutions in Vologda Oblast. The resources that we have researched prove that the administrative structures of education institutions and even the whole region are ready to face the problems that arise out of modernizing the education system. Modernizing Russian academia is one of the key priorities of upgrading society overall. The pivotal drivers of such modernization are grounded in a number of strategic national goals, such as surmounting the social and economic crisis, gaining a favorable position in the international arena, and improving the population’s quality of living. Meeting these goals requires the development of human resources, and consequently, a major social overhaul. Traditionally, higher education institutions would aim at providing a specific number of professionals in a desired field, whereas the innovative, change-oriented model aims at teaching competitive students who would be in demand at the job market, and the curriculum is based on what the market needs. This gives rise to the following questions: is the current education management system efficient? Is the management itself capable of functioning properly in a specific institution or within the entire regional education system, given the current circumstances? It is only possible to achieve real (rather than formal) change as planned if the education management system consciously uses all the resources at its disposal. The issues with training qualified experts that we have discovered in the overall education environment of the Vologda Oblast largely reflect the issues that are typical of specific institutions. The circle of people engaged in decision making is ready to transition to the innovative functional model, but the transition itself is challenging because the actual and potential entities involved in it through our study do not have the right constructive communication platform at their disposal. There is a need for a special environment where the current social and communication discourse of the management system might be optimized and executed properly.

education system, higher schools, modernization, management, communication, social andcommunication resource.

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