Trends and priority areas of state policy development in higher education for the period of 2000-2020

regulatory legal acts The purpose of this article is to compare the results of the implementation of regulatory legal acts related to state policy in higher education, adopted for the period of 2000-2020, with the developed priority areas in education. According to the reports on the results of the activities of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation for the same period, the priority areas in higher education and the results of legislative framework functioning for the period under study were analyzed. As a result, four stages of state policy in higher education were identified (such grouping is determined by the periods of validity of the considered regulatory legal acts), including documents that regulate the education system as a whole and are narrowly focused on higher education. It should be noted that the implementation of the fourth stage has not yet been completed due to the fact that the period of validity of regulatory legal acts ends in 2020; therefore, several scenarios of the course of events were made up. Based on this study, an approach was formed to assess the conformity of priority areas and the results of state policy in the field of higher education, which helped to identify “bottlenecks” in the control over the implementation of the defined priorities. L. A. Kravchenko, N. R. Pashuk, A. A. Vertinova, I. A. Bedrachuk

The purpose of this article is to compare the results of the implementation of regulatory legal acts related to state policy in higher education, adopted for the period of 2000-2020, with the developed priority areas in education. According to the reports on the results of the activities of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation for the same period, the priority areas in higher education and the results of legislative framework functioning for the period under study were analyzed. As a result, four stages of state policy in higher education were identified (such grouping is determined by the periods of validity of the considered regulatory legal acts), including documents that regulate the education system as a whole and are narrowly focused on higher education. It should be noted that the implementation of the fourth stage has not yet been completed due to the fact that the period of validity of regulatory legal acts ends in 2020; therefore, several scenarios of the course of events were made up. Based on this study, an approach was formed to assess the conformity of priority areas and the results of state policy in the field of higher education, which helped to identify "bottlenecks" in the control over the implementation of the defined priorities.

Introduction
A s a result of the changes in world trends, including mass education, the implementation of the "third mission" by universities [1], the growth in the number of specialties, the market orientation of educational institutions, over the past decades the large-scale changes have taken place in higher education, which are characterized by a change in the paradigm of education, the restructuring of the education management system, the creation of new tools, methods, and sets of measures for the effective functioning and development of universities in Russia and at the international level. These actions were the result of the fact that the education system, formed over a long period of time, being conservative [2], is changing under the influence of modern social relations, requiring from the education sector the constant and dynamic development, meeting new quality requirements made by all interested parties.
Today, the education system in the Russian Federation is being reformed. The reform process has affected and given the new meaning to the goals, tasks, and functions implemented by universities in their activities. Many of them were reorganized, others received new statuses, reflecting their special significance both at the regional and national levels. Thus, the changes and modernization of higher education are accompanied by the formation, testing and adaptation of completely new institutions and mechanisms that are based on the principles of the new public management. For example, the shift to managerial skills and competencies, the transition to the activities based on effective contracts, the consideration of the result of activities as an object of managerial activity [3]. To a greater or lesser extent, these principles are reviewed throughout the entire period of reforming the higher education system and are institutionalized in regulatory legal acts that regulate all processes occurring in the higher education system. Any change in the reform process is fixed at the legislative level; therefore, the issue of the state policy evolution in higher education and evaluation of its implementation remains relevant. Consequently, in the context of ongoing state organizational and institutional changes in the higher education system, the research objective is to review the approved regulatory legal acts and to identify the correspondence between the goals, objectives, and the results of the activities of state authorities in higher education. The consideration of the period from 2000 to 2020 is the most relevant, since during this period, the large-scale changes in higher education took place.

Materials and methods
Based on the literature review in the field of state policy, including in higher education, four research groups can be identified.
The first and largest is the group, which includes the studies aimed at analyzing the main characteristics of the country's state policy in education, including higher education at a certain point in time.
An example is the scientific results reflected in the article by Kotenev and Kuzmin, where the authors analyze the main documents that determine the priorities for education development in Russia as of 2015. Similar results were achieved in the studies conducted by Ivanova [4], Rostova [5], Chernykh [6], where the main vector of state policy in education in Russia is considered and the authors' assessment of its effectiveness is given. This group also includes the reports of UNESCO [7] and the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) [8], as well as the ones made by scientists such as Madani [9], Magnússon et al. [10] and others.
It is worth noting that in the study of state policy in education, the main role is given to the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation", the analysis of versions of which is reflected in research papers by Agarkova [11], Chekmarev and Matershev [12], and Poskonina [13]. Grinevich et al. [14] pay special attention to the priorities of state policy in international education, which is aimed at creating and supporting the country's image and its cultural attractiveness. In addition, such economists as Korotkova [15], Andryushina and Lutsenko [16], Bespalov et al. [17], Alexandrov et al. [18], Tokarskaya and Zhukova [19], Nosov [20], Pankova [21], Lapenkova [22] and many other scientists studied the state of Russian state policy and legal regulation in education and in the field of educational services.
The second group includes scientific papers that examine the main trends in reforming the educational system, including the higher education system, over a certain period of time. The third group includes the studies where the main method is a comparative analysis of the guidelines and priorities of state policy in education, including higher education, between different countries or cities, conducted by Bayramov [29], Yashchuk [30],Nosov [20], Edwards et al. [31], Iyengar and Surianarain [32] and others.
The study presented in this article relies on the consideration of state policy in a certain period of time, since in this way it is possible to analyze the changes that have occurred in dynamics over a given period of time. Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation" No. 273-FZ dated December 29, 2012 combines the general provisions and rules governing the activities at certain educational levels, including in higher education. This document is also the basis for the creation of other regulatory legal acts in education, and its implementation sets the main trends in education development in general, including higher education.

Results
To consider the trends in state policy in the field of higher education over a 20-year period, it was divided into 4 stages: from 2000 to 2005, from 2006 to 2010, from 2011 to 2015, and from 2016 to 2020, in accordance with the terms of validity of the adopted Federal Targeted Education Development Programs (FTEDPs) (Figure 1). It should be noted that at each of the stages, in addition to the documents related to all educational levels, the regulatory legal acts focused on the higher education system were also adopted.   Table 1. To assign a certain level of conformity, the following assessment algorithm was formed.
This algorithm is based on determining the area of higher education development, then on a comparison between the chosen priority area and the result of the activities of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.  Table 2.  In the graph, the transition from Stage III to Stage IV is indicated by a dashed line due to the fact that there is no final data on the results of this stage; therefore, one can talk about possible scenarios for assessing Stage IV: • Scenario 1 involves increasing the level of conformity of priority areas and results up to the high level; • Scenario 2 assumes that the level of conformity will remain at the same level as in the previous period; • Scenario 3 involves a decrease in the level of conformity; • Scenario 4 (preliminary assessment) assumes that the level of conformity will remain at the same level as in the preliminary assessment.

Conclusion
The analysis and assessment of regulatory legal acts in state policy in the field of higher areas; from stage to stage, there is an expansion, then a narrowing of the priority areas, and, consequently, their targets, which confirms the lack of continuity.
There is also a lack of openness in the results of the implementation of a regulatory legal act.
This can be proved by the following facts: if there are planned indicators for a specific project, certain time limits, there is no link in the report on the implementation or non-fulfillment of the program. It is also not indicated in which report this indicator can be found. These actions do not allow stakeholders to study and trace the line of state policy in higher education, moreover, it casts doubt on the significance of the tasks set earlier.
Nevertheless, the formation of an effective state policy in higher education requires absolute coherence and transparency in the implementation of regulatory legal acts. For this purpose, it is necessary to constantly monitor the level of conformity of the priorities and results of activities of state authorities in higher education in order to reduce risks and negative trends arising from inconsistencies between the central authority and its subordinate bodies. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen control over observing the consistency between the priorities and the results described in the reports. Certainly, an issue on necessary measures to increase the level of compliance between priority areas and results needs to be addressed separately.