Guest editorial

Citation

Popkova, E. (2019), "Guest editorial", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 422-423. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-01-2019-0007

Formation of information society and digital economy led to modernization of the educational system. Thus, a new – remote – form of provision of educational services appeared. This innovation ensured advantages for all interested parties. Consumers can obtain educational services on flexible terms.

Observation of the general schedule of studies (for semester and year) allowed the selection of individual regime of study – selection of the order of mastering of academic disciplines, revision of previous material and schedule. This allows combining work with learning and taking two specialties simultaneously, as well as mastering the course content due to the selection of the most convenient time and place of study. Educational services became accessible to handicapped people, which allows creating accessible social and labour environment.

The advantage of educational establishments (universities) consists in the reduction of sectorial barriers of entering the market of educational services by minimizing the requirements to the availability of material and technical resources and the possibility of implementing a flexible pricing policy, supporting the pricing competitiveness, Also, it is possible to enter international markets, as there is no need for branches of universities to be located abroad.

Employers’ advantage consists in increase of offer and growth of competition between employees in the labour market. Undergraduates became the new participants of this market, reducing the general level of prices and requirements to labour conditions. Also, remote corporate training and additional training with minimum financial resources and preservation of full staff became possible – as they are conducted outside of working hours.

At the level of state and society, it became possible to implement the concept of life-long learning. Increase of accessibility of educational services due to their remote form stimulates the constant increase of human potential and formation of “knowledge economy”.

These advantages provided a new impulse for the development of the educational system. Also, due to emergence and popularization of remote education, the modern educational system faced new challenges – one of which is development of new educational standards – that take into account the specifics of remote education. The existing educational standards, which clearly set the requirements to the educational process, do not fit remote education.

Thus, it is necessary to pay more attention to determining a set of competences that university graduates have to possess. Educational standards are to bring remote education to the level of traditional education. However, insufficiency of accumulated experience on remote education causes mistrust to it from interested parties, and social adaptation requires state regulation of the modern educational practice and the employment practice.

Another challenge is the necessity for controlling the quality of provision of remote educational services. Increased freedom creates preconditions for ignoring the educational process and the formal approach to learning. Remote interaction between lecturers and students complicates control over the quality of obtained knowledge and skills. So, new methods of assessing the results of learning and analysing graduates’ competence are required.

Thus, scientific study of the tendencies, problems and perspectives of development of remote education is the current state of the modern socio-humanitarian and economic science and practice. Here we present a special issue on the topic “Remote education in the modern world: a unique possibility or formality”. Its contributors tried to find scientific answers to the current issues of modern and future development of the system of remote education.

The special issue contains recent studies that are devoted to developing the concept of marketing of remote education through the prism of diversification of educational services by a modern university, competitiveness of a university that provides remote educational services, promotion of remote educational services and their consumer value, and state regulation of the educational system on the whole and remote education in particular for the provision of national security.

The problem of internationalization of the educational services market by developing a system of remote education and the problem of practical application and international recognition of higher education diplomas are raised and discussed. The possibilities of using intellectual technologies in higher education are considered. The works within the special issue are presented in the form of scientific discussion on the topic of uncertainty of the influence of development of remote education on the modern educational system.

A common issue that unites all articles in the special issue and that predetermines its topic is the maximization of advantages of remote education, which are related to the provision of unique opportunities for interested parties and prevention of the formal approach to learning and provision of diplomas in case of remote education.