Market of educational services. Market of educational services Factors determining trends in the consumption of educational services

An analysis of the influence of factors on the effectiveness of educational services was carried out. The need for this analysis is caused by changes in legislation on higher education in Russia, as well as a change in the guidelines of society and its requirements for university graduates. A modern university is placed in such a framework in which it must prove the possibility of its existence in the education market. In this case, the evidence will be the effectiveness of the services performed by him, which is influenced by many factors. To determine the most significant factors influencing the effectiveness of the educational services of the university, as well as all existing opportunities and threats, the SWOT analysis method was used. According to the results of the study, the main factors are the amount of state funding, the possibility of self-financing by the university of its resource potential, as well as compliance management decisions university missions. Only knowing all the factors influencing the efficiency of services, as well as using all available opportunities, a modern university will be able to actively develop, provide the educational services that society and the real market now expect from it.

efficiency

educational services

modern university

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5. On state support for the development of innovative infrastructure in federal educational institutions of higher vocational education: Decree of April 9, 2010 No. 219 [Electronic resource] // ATP "Consultant Plus".

6. Poletaev V.E. State and business in Russia. - M. : INFRA-M, 2010. - 281 p.

7. Poleshchuk T.A. Improving the organizational and economic mechanism for managing the reproduction of the active part of the fixed assets of industry: dis. ... cand. economy Sciences: specialty 08.00.05 "Economics and management of the national economy" [Vladivostok. state University of Economics and Service]. - Vladivostok, 2006. - 187 p.

8. Terent'eva T.V., Kulakova M.N. Methodology for assessing the sustainability of the development of an entrepreneurial university // Sat. scientific Proceedings of SWorld based on the materials of the international. scientific-practical. conf. " Contemporary Issues and ways to solve them in science, transport, production and education”. - Odessa, 2011. - T. 21. Economics. - S. 46-50.

The social reforms being carried out in Russia, undoubtedly aimed at maintaining and developing socially significant systems, have led to the emergence of many problems. As practice shows, such an important part of the country's social life as higher education has faced the largest number of state reforms. Legislative adjustments are made to the goals and objectives of the functioning of the university, to the methodology of teaching disciplines; social and market realities began to dictate their conditions in terms of the structure of graduates in the areas of training and their demand in the labor market. The issue of the effectiveness of the educational services of the university, their adaptation to the requirements of the market and society has become acute. In line with this issue, economists began to explore the factors that affect the effectiveness of educational services.

The purpose of this study is to analyze and identify key factors affecting the effectiveness of educational services of a modern university. The research materials are the works of Russian scientists on the stated topic. Research methods are observation, modeling, abstraction and deduction.

A factor (from Latin factor - making, producing) is considered as the reason, the driving force of any process, phenomenon, which determines its character or individual features. Along with many scientists, Poleshchuk T.A. was also involved in a comprehensive analysis of factors. and Astafurov I.S., who proved in their works that the analysis of factors serves as an information basis for assessing the effectiveness of any economic system, including the educational services of a university in modern society.

By their nature, all factors, regardless of the object of study, are initially divided into factors of the internal and external environment.

Factors of the internal environment are a set of variables that are in the field of activity of the university and are the sphere of direct influence on the part of its management. Directly the factors of the internal environment can be divided into economic and social factors.

The basis for determining the economic factors of the internal environment is the presence of the economic potential of the university. The economic potential is understood as a set of resources and capabilities of the university, which determine the prospects for its activities under certain scenarios of external conditions.

The first and most important factor is that the university has its own sources of financing for its technical development; availability of material and scientific and technical base, modern technologies. This will allow, firstly, to keep up with changing market conditions and competitors in the provision of educational services; secondly, to attract new applicants to their walls.

The listed factors will not play their role if management decisions do not correspond to the economic laws of the development of the university and the strategic positioning of its services. These factors are an indicator of what the university is striving for in its endeavors, what it wants to achieve, what tasks it sets for itself. Without setting a competent goal and knowing it, it is impossible to competently manage a university, and even more so to achieve the effectiveness of educational activities.

The effectiveness of the educational activities of the university is also affected by the presence of stable relationships with partners: suppliers, consumers of services and other contractors. The university cannot “stew in its own juice”. He needs reliable connections with the outside world, thanks to which he will be able not only to provide the educational and economic process, but also to position himself in the real business environment.

The basis for determining the social factors of the internal environment is the psychological situation and the level of social security of the team. Therefore, the social factors of the internal environment, in particular, include:

• the level of competence of the university management and its employees;
• creation of a system of social support for employees;
• availability of a system of incentives and work with personnel;
• ensuring the possibility of self-realization of employees;
• normal psychological climate in the work team.

It is on how the university staff feels, what goals each employee sets for himself, that will be the return to the treasury of the effectiveness of educational services. Therefore, it is extremely important for the university management to provide a favorable environment for finding each employee and the possibility of its implementation.

As for environmental factors, they mean any factors that are beyond the control of the university, i.e. the whole set of factors that affect or may affect in a certain way the university and its goals and which should be taken into account when assessing the effectiveness of educational services.

Environmental factors influence each other. If earlier attention was concentrated mainly on economic and technical circumstances, then the change in people's attitudes, social values, political forces and the sphere of legal responsibility made it necessary to expand the range of external influences requiring consideration.

The external environment is traditionally divided into direct and indirect impact environments. Factors that have an immediate impact on the university are related to the environment of direct impact, all others - to the environment of indirect impact.

Factors of direct impact are understood as external sources, forces that directly affect the activities of the university and under the requirements of which the university needs to adjust its activities or, if possible, change such a factor to another, equivalent to it. External factors of direct impact include: government bodies(including local governments), their regulations or laws; partners and partnerships; competitors.

As for environmental factors of indirect influence, they are understood as external sources of power that have an impact on the university either indirectly (through some other factors) or under certain conditions. These factors include political factors and social factors (environment in society).

In addition, the effect of factors may differ in duration. A one-time impact may be, for example, obtaining a government order or an agreement for the training of specialists for a large enterprise.

Such factors in most cases are unpredictable environmental factors and can have both positive and negative impact.

If factors have an impact on a certain period of time (for example, seasonal nature), then such factors are combined into a group of temporary factors. These factors are predictable environmental factors.

Most of the factors are permanent. Permanent factors are predictable factors of the internal and external environment.

Factors can also be controllable and uncontrollable.

Managed factors are always predictable and refer to the factors of the internal environment. Uncontrollable factors are not subject to any impact from the university, and it is possible to reduce the negative effect of their impact only by taking into account their influence in development strategies. Uncontrollable factors may be predictive or non-predictive, but they all relate to environmental factors.

Many factors influence each other, strengthening or weakening the effectiveness of the educational services of the university. For the most visual demonstration of the influence of factors, we analyze them using the SWOT analysis method.

Table 1 - SWOT analysis for the effectiveness of the educational services of the university

According to table 1, we can conclude the following. The undoubted strengths of the university are a wide range of areas of training, a high level of material and technical base, information technology in education, a strategic approach, the presence of motivation among teaching staff, a positive image, etc.

However, there are also weaknesses of the university. The main weaknesses of the university, according to the author, are the low efficiency of activities in the field of intellectual property, the insufficient use of active teaching methods and, most importantly, the lack of clear criteria for achieving the goals set by both the university management and its employees. These weaknesses must be overcome by the university first of all in order to develop along the path of innovative development, to which society and the state are now leading it.

In conclusion, I would like to note that in order to overcome weaknesses, to improve the efficiency of educational services, the university needs to use all existing opportunities. Realization of opportunities will reduce or eliminate many of the threats to which educational services are exposed today. However, the main threats, according to the author, facing the university are the reduction of budget funding and changes in legislation on higher education, military service and demography. The university is not able to influence these factors. Their negative impact can be reduced or replaced by a stronger positive impact of the opportunity being realized.

Reviewers:

• Solodukhin Konstantin Sergeevich, Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor; Professor of the Department of Mathematics and Modeling, Head of the Strategic Planning Laboratory of the Vladivostok state university economy and service (VSUES), Vladivostok.
• Mazelis Lev Solomonovich, Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor; Head of the Department of Mathematics and Modeling, Director of the Institute of Informatics, Innovations and Business Systems (IIBS) of the Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service (VSUES), Vladivostok.

Bibliographic link

Sotnikova Natalia Vyacheslavovna

Modern trends in the development of the educational services market

Annotation: The article considers various approaches to defining the market of educational services, defines the subjects and objects of marketing of educational services, describes the life cycle of an educational service.

Key Concepts- the market of educational services, the life cycle of educational services, participants in market relations.

The market of educational services in Russia is developing very rapidly. Both state and non-state educational institutions are involved in it. The high rates of development of this market, the emergence of new forms of providing educational services determine the need for a deep study of the processes taking shape in this market, the development of ways to improve the organizational and economic mechanism of its functioning.

In the work of M.I. Gavrilov's market of educational services is defined as a system of economic relations regarding the sale and purchase of educational services that are directly in demand by both collective and individual consumers.

I. Berezin defines the market of educational services as the material interactions of participants in the educational process: students, organizations providing educational services, persons and organizations paying for these services.

Goldobin N.D. understands the market of educational services as a set of socio-economic relations and connections between market entities regarding the provision and receipt of educational services.

Proceeding from this, marketing in the field of education is a philosophy, strategy and tactics of relations and interactions between consumers and producers of educational services and products in a market environment, free choice of priorities and actions on both sides. The target result of marketing activities is to ensure profitability through the most effective satisfaction of the needs of: an individual - in education, an educational institution - in the development and welfare of employees, firms - in the growth of human resources, society - in the expanded reproduction of intellectual potential.

An important point in considering the issues of the educational services market is the definition of subjects and objects of the market. According to A.P. Pankrukhin, “participants in market relations are not only educational institutions, but also consumers (individuals, enterprises and organizations), a wide range of intermediaries (including employment services, labor exchanges, registration, licensing and accreditation bodies of educational institutions, etc.), as well as public institutions and structures involved in the promotion of educational services and products on the market” .

Among the subjects of marketing a special role is played by the personality of the student, student, listener. This is not just a material carrier of educational services, not only a person using them in the labor process, but also their only end consumer. A person differs from other consumers of educational services in that he uses the educational potential not only to create material and other benefits, not only to earn a living, but also to satisfy his own needs for knowledge. It is the person, the personified carrier, the owner, the user and the end consumer of educational services and products that makes a specific choice of his future specialty and specialization, place and form of education, sources of its financing, as well as the choice of the future place of work and the whole range of conditions for realizing the acquired potential. Thanks to and around this personal choice, all other subjects of the market and marketing of educational services, united by this central subject, meet and establish their relations.

Another subject of marketing of educational services are firms, organizations and enterprises. They are intermediate consumers of educational services, form demand and present it on the market. The functions of consumer organizations are:

Informing educational institutions and structures, intermediaries and individuals about the demand;

Establishment of special requirements for the quality of educational services and for their future employees from the standpoint of professional and job requirements, appropriate participation in the assessment of the quality of educational services;

Location definition, effective conditions future labor activity graduates and compliance, fulfillment of these conditions;

Full or partial reimbursement of costs, payment or other forms of compensation for services rendered.

Educational institutions act as subjects that form an offer, provide and sell educational services. Their functions include:

Providing students with services for the acquisition (transfer) of the desired and necessary knowledge, skills and abilities;

Production and provision of related educational services, as well as the provision of influences that shape the personality of a future specialist;

Providing information and intermediary services to potential and actual students and employers, including negotiating conditions with them future work, sizes, order and sources of financing of educational services.

Intermediary structures in the market of educational services are still in the stage of formation, deployment of their marketing activity. These include employment services and labor exchanges, educational funds, associations of educational institutions and enterprises, specialized educational centers, etc. They contribute to the effective promotion of educational services on the market and can perform such functions as:

Accumulation, processing and sale of information about the situation in the market of educational services, advising other entities;

Participation in the processes of accreditation of educational institutions, implementation of promotional activities, legal support;

Formation of distribution channels, organization of the conclusion and assistance in the implementation of transactions for educational services and others.

One of the subjects of marketing of educational services is the state and its governing bodies. Its functions are very specific, as they cannot be performed by other marketing entities:

Creation and maintenance of the image of education both among the population and employers;

Financing of state educational institutions;

Legal protection of subjects of marketing of educational services;

Establishment of lists of professions and specialties.

So, active participants in market relations are educational institutions, consumers (individuals, organizations and enterprises), intermediaries (employment services, labor exchanges), the state.

Traditionally, the object of marketing is any object that is offered on the market for exchange and is in demand..

Economic relations in the educational sphere can be interpreted as the relationship of a seller (general educational institution) selling a product (knowledge, skills, information) to a buyer (an individual or the state).

The market of educational services is characterized by its own specifics, since the quality of an educational service as a commodity cannot be fully assessed even in the process of its consumption, not to mention a preliminary assessment. In addition, the quality of educational services directly depends not only on the conditions for their production (the use of modern educational and upbringing technologies, the availability of highly qualified teachers), but also on the individual abilities of children accepted for training.

At the same time, educational services are highly liquid (its production allows you to quickly return the spent resources) and socially significant (important not only for an individual consumer of educational services, but also for the whole society as a whole) goods.

The life cycle of an educational service, like any product, includes 5 stages:

1. introduction - a period of slow growth, when the service is just beginning to master the market; at this stage, a new educational service becomes marketable for the first time, people can be cautious, so the costs are high, but there are not many competitors;

2. growth - a period of rapid market conquest; if a new educational program satisfies the market, then it attracts consumers; during this stage it is necessary to maintain fast growth demand, improving the quality of programs and focusing on their new features, finding new markets, using advertising and other ways to attract additional attention to the educational service;

3. maturity - a period of slow growth, due to the receipt of educational services by the majority of potential consumers; this, along with the next, the longest stage, with which the greatest efforts are associated with the organization of marketing;

4. saturation - other educational institutions begin to offer an educational program, demand falls, overproduction occurs, which leads to increased competition between educational institutions and a decrease in sales;

5. recession - the period when the interest of consumers falls; it can be fast or slow.

Promotion (distribution) of an educational service is the process by which an educational institution makes its programs and services available to its target markets.

It should be noted that the market for educational services has expanded significantly and economic relations in education are being formed today in the context of a reduction in state funding for education and the development of market relations in the field of education. Therefore, in a competitive environment, the educational institution that will be able to provide the demanded educational services, supported by qualified personnel and a reasonable pricing policy, will be in the leader's position.

When selecting participants in the distribution channel for services, the management of the institution must evaluate the potential development opportunities for each participant in the channel, its profit, profitability, ability to cooperate and reputation. At the same time, the institution must constantly motivate the participants in its distribution channels, including not only its employees, but also independent intermediaries. To ensure the effective functioning of the distribution channel, it is necessary to regularly evaluate the performance of your intermediaries and help them with recommendations. With the change in the purchasing model of consumers of services, the expansion of sales markets, the complication of goods and services, the emergence of new competitors, there is a need to modify the structure of the distribution channel, which must be used to create a creative structure of distribution channels for services.

The system for promoting services to the market is a program of general marketing communications for an institution that produces services. Marketers name four main means of promotion:

Sales promotion - short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service;

Public relations – building good relations of companies with various segments of the public;

Personal selling is oral communication with one or more prospective buyers for the purpose of making sales of goods and services.

List of used literature:

1. Goldobin, N. Features of marketing in the organization distance learning. Remote education. / N. Goldobin. M, 2004. - No. 1.

2. Dichtl E., Hershgen H. Practical marketing. - M., 2006. - 395 p.

3. Kozhukhar V.M. To determine the content of educational services // Marketing in Russia and abroad. - 2005. - No. 3. - With. 42-47.

4. The concept of modernization of Russian education for the period up to 2010 // Higher education today. - 2002. - No. 2. - p.3-25.

5. Pankrukhin A.P. Marketing of educational services in higher and additional education: Tutorial. - M.: Interpraks, 2006. -352s.

The transition to market relations in education necessitated the formation of a market for educational services. This was largely facilitated by the reduction in budgetary funding of educational institutions, the abolition of the centralized distribution of graduates, as well as the provision of significant legal, organizational and economic independence to universities. However, according to experts, the formation of the market of educational services is a complex process and is largely spontaneous in our country. Thus, the country lacks a unified information base for the educational services market, market management bodies and its infrastructure have not been formed, there is no systematic study of the state of this market and its development trends.

AT economic theory separate provisions were considered that determine the content of the education market, its features, segmentation, marketing research and a number of other issues, but there is no complete picture that characterizes the educational services market. All this determines the need to systematize information about the educational services market and develop its conceptual apparatus.

Based on the classification of commodity markets, the educational services market is integral part the market for goods of spiritual production, which in turn is a kind of commodity market. Based on the definition of a commodity market, which is a system of economic relations, firstly, with producers and consumers of a given product and, secondly, within groups of producers and consumers, it is possible to formulate a definition of the educational services market. Since the educational services market is a kind of commodity market, therefore, its definition should correspond to the definition of a commodity market, taking into account the specifics associated with the nature of services.

Consequently, market of educational services is a system of economic relations that develop between producers of educational services, consumers and intermediaries regarding the production, exchange and consumption of educational services and products.

There is another, more concise definition of the educational services market, which is understood as "... all potential consumers seeking to satisfy their educational needs, capable of entering into an exchange relationship with the seller"

The market of educational services performs the following functions:

• ensures the competitiveness of educational services and the differentiation of their producers;
• contributes to a balanced reproduction and redistribution of highly qualified personnel in the context of structural changes in the economy;
• takes into account socially necessary costs for the production of educational services and determines prices;
• creates conditions for a balanced supply and demand for educational services.

Assessing the state of the Russian market of educational services, it can be noted that the total number of educational institutions for the period 1998-2009. increased by 1.5 times, and the growth in the number of non-state higher educational institutions occurred at a faster pace (almost 2 times) than state ones (only 1.1 times). During the same period, the number of students in educational institutions increased by 2.2 times, including 1.8 times in state institutions, and 5.2 times in non-state ones, which indicates not only an increase in the number of non-state educational institutions, but also about their expansion. The number of students studying on a paid basis (the market sector of educational services) for the specified period increased by 1.2 times, including at the expense of those studying at state universities - by only 1.06 times. If in 1998 the share of students studying on a paid basis was 21.7% of their total number, then in 2009 it was 57.4%, i.e. already more than half of students studying in Russian universities are market participants.

It should be noted that the quantitative growth and the level of quality assurance of educational activities do not always meet the modern requirements of a dynamically developing labor market.

The following positive and negative factors in the development of universities within the framework of the educational services market can be distinguished.

To positive factors include:

• organizational and economic independence of universities;
• rendering state universities additional paid educational services;
• providing students with freedom of behavior in receiving and consuming educational services;
• development of non-state educational institutions;
• application of new computer and telecommunication technologies;
• introduction of innovative educational technologies;
• introduction of a multi-level training system, etc.

To negative factors include:

• the danger of losing the actual Russian face of the system of higher professional education in the context of an objectively acting trend towards its internationalization;
• the danger that the market will present purely utilitarian, narrowly pragmatic demands to education, will not allow the fundamentalization of education to unfold, to humanize it;
• lack of practical experience in applying the methodology and marketing tools;
• lack of a clear specialization of personnel training;
• unregulated demand for educational services;
• ignoring laws on education by the executive and legislative bodies;
• reduction of budget financing of universities and other educational institutions;
• a decrease in the social status and economic position of university professors and staff;
• liquidation of the system of distribution of graduates by institutions of higher professional education;
• non-transparency of the market of educational services;
• the gap between the theoretical knowledge that students receive in universities and the practical skills required by employers;
• a significant time interval between the emergence of demand for certain specialists and its satisfaction;
• difficulties with the organization and passage of industrial practice by students, its short duration, etc.

Consider in more detail the above positive factors.

Improving the legislative framework led to the introduction of significant adjustments to the management of the education system and the rules economic development educational institutions. As a result, universities have gained significant independence both in terms of conducting the educational and pedagogical process, and in terms of economic activity. They are granted the right, on the basis of existing standards, to independently develop and approve educational programs and curricula, work programs of the courses and disciplines being studied. They got the opportunity to quickly respond to changes in the requirements that the market places on specialists.

The Law "On Education" served as the basis for the introduction of additional paid educational services by state universities. Almost all Russian state universities, in addition to budget funding, recruit students on a compensatory basis.

In the absence of budget financing, the funds received from commercial recruitment provide significant assistance in the development of the material and technical base of universities, the timely payment of salaries to teachers and staff, and payment utilities etc.

The development of non-state educational institutions has expanded the choice of specialty for consumers (applicants and their parents), brought educational institutions closer to the places of residence of students (especially in remote regions of the country), which led to lower costs for their education compared to state universities located in the central regions of the country .

AT last years the number of non-state universities is approaching the number of state ones. Thus, at the end of 2010, there were 653 state and municipal institutions of higher professional education and 462 non-state universities in Russia.

One of the main factors in the development of market relations in the field of education is the introduction of modern computer and telecommunication technologies in universities, on the basis of which innovative educational technologies began to develop.

New information technologies greatly contribute to the development of market relations in the field of education, primarily because their use leads to an intensive expansion of the educational services market. By providing the opportunity to receive education in the workplace, at home or in a training center close to home and on the job, new technologies greatly expand access to education. The most common form of educational technology is distance learning.

Distance learning assumes a universal form of education, aimed mainly at independent training of students according to individual curricula, based on the use of satellite communications, computer telecommunications, multimedia teaching systems, etc., while the learning process does not depend on the location of the student in space and time.

The development of distance learning will allow:

• significantly expand the circle of consumers of educational services, including in regions remote from scientific and cultural centers countries;
• attract highly qualified teachers to create training courses and thereby improve the quality of student training;
• ensure the creation of additional jobs, as there is a need for programmers, methodologists and other employees serving distance learning.

The advantages of distance learning are obvious, and their list could be continued, but one cannot ignore the problems hindering its development. Thus, some universities hurried to introduce a system of distance learning, not having sufficiently trained teachers and methodologists for this, the appropriate equipment of educational programs for educational and methodical literature, educational electronic publications, audio-video educational materials.

In order to really create effective system distance learning, it is necessary to develop a new infrastructure of the educational process, adjust the teaching load of teachers and students, develop a system of material incentives for teachers and employees.

Another positive factor enshrined in the Law "On Higher and Postgraduate Education" is the creation of a multi-level and flexible system of continuous education. It provides an opportunity for any applicant to receive education at the appropriate level up to the highest academic degree.

Thus, the introduction of market relations in education expands the freedom of choice by the consumer of both educational institutions (state or non-state) and forms of education (full-time, part-time, external studies, distance learning, etc.).

Consider also some negative factors.

The fashion for some professions and specialties has led to an unjustified demand for them. This happened with a number of economic specialties, such as finance and credit, accounting, management, commerce, economics, law, etc. And since the state and development of the education market depends on the state of the labor market, the unregulated demand for educational services has led to an excess graduates of economic and legal specialties.

A negative factor is the fact that these specialties are trained even in those universities where they were not specialized, which affects the quality of training. In addition, the excess production of unclaimed specialties continues. Universities themselves are not interested in curtailing training in such specialties, since the volume of budgetary and extrabudgetary funding, as well as the number of jobs for teachers, depend on this, which leads to the existence of an unregulated market for educational services.

An important problem hindering the development of universities in the market of educational services is a sharp decrease in budget funding. In general, the need for financial resources of educational institutions is provided from budgetary sources by less than a quarter. The tendency of reduction of real volumes of appropriations for needs of education is kept.

The reduction in budget funding affected the state of the material and technical base of universities, caused a deterioration in the economic situation and a decrease in the social status of the teaching staff of universities.

Despite some government efforts to raise wages in high school, the average monthly salary of the teaching staff occupies one of the last places in the ranking of professions. Low wages and an inefficient system for assessing and stimulating the work of the teaching staff led to a decline in the prestige of the profession. For the same reason, the trend of aging of the teaching staff continues.

The liquidation of the system of distribution of graduates can also be attributed to negative factors: educational institutions have lost responsibility to consumers of personnel for the quantitative and qualitative indicators of training specialists.

Another negative factor is the opacity of the educational services market. A.P. Pankrukhin pointed out this problem more than 10 years ago. He noted that the subjects of the market, including the state, cannot formulate and consolidate their positions on it. The scope of responsibility is not clear, there is no clarity in the conceptual apparatus, pricing of educational services and products. It should be noted that at present the situation has not changed much.

The problem of the gap between the theoretical knowledge that students receive in universities and practical skills that meet the requirements of employers has not been resolved. This issue is closely related to the problem of students passing industrial practice, which still remains unresolved.

Not all enterprises agree to accept students for internships, many of them treat students' internships formally. Almost all statistical information is a commercial secret, and students do not have the opportunity to obtain it for analytical work. It turns out a vicious circle: enterprises want to get highly qualified specialists without making any effort and often even accusing the education sector of dishonest training.

Another negative factor is the increase in the time lag between the emergence of demand for certain specialists and its satisfaction. This is due to the fact that the rate of change in the structure of demand for specialists exceeds the existing adaptive capabilities of the education system, since the period of obtaining higher education today is from three to five years, according to the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs - one and a half to two years.

• Shevchenko Yu. A. Marketing Strategies for Pricing at the University // Practical Marketing. 2002. No. 10 (68). pp. 25–32.
• Bazhutkin D. G. Formation and development of the market of educational services of higher educational institutions: theory and methodology: author. dis. ... Dr. Econ. Sciences. Samara, 2010.
• Russian statistical yearbook. M.: Rosstat, 2010. gks.ru

Today education is one of the most dynamic and promising sectors of the economy, and market of educational services one of the fastest growing. Thus, according to some estimates, the annual increase in demand and supply for educational services in the field of higher education and adult education (including postgraduate education) in the fastest developing countries reaches 10-15%. This pace of development is only accelerating. high level return on investment in education in these countries.

Management of education as a dynamic system requires predictive information about the prospects for its development in order to make the necessary management decisions. The quality of human (intellectual) capital and the efficiency of the economy as a whole depend on the quality of predictive assessments, their effective use in the process of managing the education system.

Features of the development of the education sector and the very essence of education predetermine the fact that the market of educational services is characterized by significant specifics. It is subject to the same forces that affect any market, be it the market for goods or services. It is the market of educational services that combines market and non-market mechanisms of functioning, and this is its specificity. Such a dualism of the mechanisms of functioning of the market of educational services follows from the specifics of the educational service as an activity that satisfies not only private needs, but also public ones.

Some authors consider an educational service as an activity of an educational institution aimed at the development of a person's intellectual abilities, the formation of professional qualities that are realized in the future in the course of labor activity. So, T.A. The dream states that ... an educational service is the result of the educational, managerial, financial and economic activities of an educational institution aimed at meeting the production demand for training, retraining and advanced training of the labor force, the demand of individuals for obtaining a profession or qualification, retraining ...» .

Non-market mechanisms that form the market of educational services are mainly reduced to a certain set of methods, tools and tools. public policy in the field of education and management of public educational institutions.

The process of rendering or, delivery educational services usually includes the following factors:

1. Educational space.
2. Market actors, i.e. service providers - the human factor and consumers/learners - the human factor.
3. Equipment and materials used in the provision of services and (or) facilitating the process of providing services (educational process and auxiliary processes).
4. The material base in the form of premises, that is, buildings, separate premises in buildings, other real estate.
5. And, finally, due to the great social and public significance, the influence of state and public interests.

Analysis of the impact of various types of the external environment on market strategy of market entities, highlights the following key points:

• the more complex and dynamic the competitive environment, the more difficult the problem of forecasting, the higher the need to correlate the market strategy and track changes in the market;
• it is the complexity of the environment and the level of its variability (dynamism) that will have a decisive influence on the process of choosing the type of strategy;
• the more complex and dynamic the environment, the higher the degree of risk in determining the market strategy.

One of the most famous structural analysis models was proposed by Harvard Business School professor and famous economist M. Porter and was called the "five forces of competition model" or "Porter's Five Forces of Competition framework". This concept is based on the following premises:

• structural analysis recognizes that competition in the market goes beyond directly competing companies;
• when conducting a structural analysis, it is necessary to determine the intensity of competition and, in this regard, the potential levels of influence on the organization of the five key forces. The methodology allows you to identify the most powerful key forces for formulating a strategy.
• Structural analysis technique allows the company to develop an effective strategy, which, in turn, will allow it to take a strong position when faced with various competitive forces.

Within the framework of this concept, 5 forces are distinguished:

1. The threat of intrusion of new participants - competitors (Entry of competitors) - how easy or difficult it is for new market participants to enter the market, what barriers exist.
2. The threat of the appearance of substitute goods or substitute services (Threat of substitutes) - how easy it is to replace a product or service, in particular, to reduce the cost.
3. Bargaining power of buyers - how strong the position of buyers, whether they can jointly order large volumes.
4. Bargaining power of suppliers - how strong the position of the sellers. Are there many potential suppliers or only a few, a monopoly?
5. Rivalry among the existing players - how strong is the competition among the existing players? Is there a dominant one or are they all equal in strength and size?

Moreover, the attractiveness of the market will be the higher, the weaker the impact of these five forces.

Applied to trade in services a more extended structure is used, consisting of seven elements:

• Services as products supplied to the market
• Place of provision of services
• Service promotion
• Human factors – all those who are involved in the process of providing services and in any way influence the perception of services by the consumer, including the personnel of the service provider, the consumer himself and other consumers in the environment in which the service is delivered.
• Material reinforcement is the environment in which the provision (delivery) of services takes place and in which the contact between the service provider and the consumer and all those material, tangible components that contribute to the provision of services take place. In the case of educational services, this includes educational materials and goods.
• The service delivery process is the actual procedure, the mechanism for providing services.

In terms of identifying what is a product or product in the educational services market, it seems necessary to distinguish between an educational service as such and related services and goods that are sold within a functioning educational system. However, such a distinction cannot be made with 100% accuracy. If we consider the modern sphere of education, we can single out several forms of educational services that practically merge with the supply of educational goods in their material form.

In addition, educational goods are just the material reinforcement of the process of providing educational services, which reinforces the virtual transfer of knowledge and information with something more tangible, and therefore for many students (depending on the psychophysiological characteristics of each individual), more accessible, memorable.

The educational space, even within the country, within the framework of the national market of educational services, is heterogeneous. The educational services market can be segmented, and each segment of its market has significant features. However, in another segment of the educational services market, namely in the segment of distance learning, educational goods in one form or another mediated on tangible or electronic media, as already mentioned, are practically identified with the service itself, which complicates both the assessment of the service market with quantitative, statistical point of view, and an assessment of a possible marketing strategy in this segment.

Despite the fact that a service is an activity or actions related to the transfer of information and knowledge, the consumer is ultimately interested in the results that he will receive in the course of consuming educational services, that is, in a certain set of knowledge, skills and abilities that he develops. or, at least, must be formed in the process of consuming the service. In order to build the right market strategy for educational institutions, primarily higher education institutions that also carry out research activities, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between two types of knowledge market:

• Market for distribution and transfer of existing knowledge, which includes the market of educational services, within which the knowledge already existing in society is transformed and transferred to other persons.
• Market of new knowledge- this is the area in which new scientific knowledge and technologies are created in the course of scientific and experimental design work.

The mechanisms of functioning of these markets differ significantly and, as a result, approaches to their assessment and to the choice of a market strategy for an educational institution in each of these markets also differ.

The direct supplier of the educational service is the teacher, even if, according to the legal structure of the contract for the provision of educational services, the contractor is an educational institution. Of course, it is precisely the qualities of a teacher, such as his intellectual level, experience, skills in presenting material, psychological attitude, etc. are directly related to the quality of educational services. That is why the expected quality of an educational service (for example, the level of accessibility of lecture material, the manner of its presentation, the ability to work with a student, etc.) can only be assessed in communication directly with teachers, and not with the administrative staff of an educational institution.

This can be organized, for example, by holding days in educational institutions open doors. Schools, universities and other providers of educational services can actively use information technologies and Internet resources to organize ongoing communication with potential consumers, for example, through the organization of websites and forums on the Internet.

In addition to the above, the problem of the inseparability of educational services from direct suppliers can be partially solved through a certain formalization and materialization. educational material in the form of textbooks, visual aids, etc., which allows assessing the possible quality of the set of knowledge and skills supplied in the course of providing an educational service.

Finally, the volatility of quality can be overcome by building a system for monitoring the quality of services, improving the professional skills and qualifications of the teaching staff, and maintaining the motivation of teachers and students.

One of the effective tools in overcoming the problem of quality volatility is to constantly monitor customer satisfaction with the quality of services provided. Here the toolkit is very wide. Can be used, for example:

• questionnaires of pupils/students, parents, employers;
• exchange of opinions on specialized educational sites;
• exchange of views and feedback from students / parents on the websites of the educational institutions themselves, etc.

With the use of marketing tools to level the shortcomings associated with individual characteristics (properties) of a service as a product, it is presented in diagram 1:

Thus, from the perspective of educational service providers ensuring the quality of services provided consists in:

• timely assessment of the needs of consumers in the field of educational services;
• in choosing the right segment of the educational services market;
• informing consumers about the quality of educational services;
• in the choice of service components that can ensure its appropriate quality;
• in constant monitoring of needs in the market of educational services.

Currently, education is becoming one of the main resources for the development of national economies. The harmonious development of the personality and creative abilities of a person, the creation of the intellectual, cultural and moral potential of the state are the most important prerequisites for the successful socio-economic development of the state and its worthy position in the international community.

Modern education is characterized by a large choice and high competition of educational services provided by both state and non-state educational institutions. In many regions there is a fairly large number of educational institutions that provide an opportunity to receive secondary vocational, higher or additional education with the issuance of a state diploma in the same specialties.

The special role of education is confirmed by the fact that the average level of adult literacy is the most important indicator of a country's development, a guarantee of its prosperity and stability. It is the educational potential of the state that forms the basis for determining the human development index and determines the country's place in world rankings.

Education is one of the industries national economy, which is part of the complex of branches of the social sphere.

Education, like any branch of the economy, performs its own, only its inherent specific role - it carries out educational activities.

Educational activity is a kind of activity related to the organization in the state of the process of training and educating people, carried out in the interests of a person, society, state and aimed at: preserving, increasing and transferring knowledge to new generations; intellectual, cultural and moral education of a person; training of qualified personnel for all sectors of the economy.

The product of educational activity is educational services - a system of knowledge, skills, information that has its value and is in demand in the market of goods.

The subjects of educational activity are:

The state - the customer of educational services;

Educational institutions - producers of educational services;

Individuals - consumers of educational services.

A general educational institution can be considered as an enterprise with a team of specialists, an appropriate material base, which creates, replicates and offers the population specific products - educational services.

Economic relations in the educational sphere can be interpreted as the relationship of a seller (general educational institution) selling a product (knowledge, skills, information) to a buyer (an individual or the state).

The market of educational services is characterized by its own specifics, since the quality of an educational service as a commodity cannot be fully assessed even in the process of its consumption, not to mention a preliminary assessment. In addition, the quality of educational services directly depends not only on the conditions for their production (the use of modern educational and upbringing technologies, the availability of highly qualified teachers), but also on the individual abilities of children accepted for training.

At the same time, educational services are highly liquid (its production allows you to quickly return the resources spent) and socially significant (important not only for an individual consumer of educational services, but also for the whole society as a whole) goods.

The life cycle of an educational service, like any product, includes 5 stages:

1. introduction - a period of slow growth, when the service is just beginning to master the market; at this stage, a new educational service becomes marketable for the first time, people can be cautious, so the costs are high, but there are not many competitors;

2. growth - a period of rapid market conquest; if a new educational program satisfies the market, then it attracts consumers; during this stage, it is necessary to maintain a rapid growth in demand by improving the quality of programs and focusing on their new features, finding new markets, using advertising and other ways to attract additional attention to the educational service;

3. maturity - a period of slow growth, due to the receipt of educational services by the majority of potential consumers; this, along with the next, the longest stage, with which the greatest efforts are associated with the organization of marketing;

4. saturation - other educational institutions begin to offer an educational program, demand falls, overproduction occurs, which leads to increased competition between educational institutions and a decrease in sales;

5. recession - the period when the interest of consumers falls; it can be fast or slow.

Promotion (distribution) of an educational service is the process by which an educational institution makes its programs and services available to its target markets.

It should be noted that the market for educational services has expanded significantly and economic relations in education are being formed today in the context of a reduction in state funding for education and the development of market relations in the field of education. Therefore, in a competitive environment, the educational institution that will be able to provide the demanded educational services, supported by qualified personnel and a reasonable pricing policy, will be in the leader's position.

2.2 The education market in the Republic of Belarus

Currently, the vocational education market is actively developing, which determines the need to use the marketing methodology:

Analysis of the vocational education market;

Theoretical foundations of education marketing;

Marketing research education;

Marketing environment of educational institutions;

Behavior of consumers of educational services;

Marketing communications in the field of education;

Marketing management in an educational institution.

Training of specialists with higher education in the republic in 2005-2006 academic year was carried out in 43 state and 12 non-state universities. The number of educational institutions providing this kind of training has a positive trend. Compared to 1990, they increased by more than 1.5 times. This speaks of the prestige of higher education in the public mind, since people who have received it occupy high places in the social hierarchy and are more in demand in the labor market. This is also confirmed by an analysis of the structure of unemployment in the qualification and educational context. For example, in 2006 the share of unemployed with higher education was the lowest and amounted to 9.8% of their total number. This significantly affects the desire of students to study at the country's universities and not change their aspirations even if they do not enter education on a budgetary basis. The emerging contradiction - the need for education and the possibility of obtaining it - is resolved through the deployment of a system of paid educational services. In recent years, there has been an increase in students who are ready to pay for their education on their own. So, in comparison with 2000, their share in the total number in 2005 increased by 18.4%.

The growing need for highly educated personnel in the labor market and the ever-increasing ability of the population to pay for educational services lead to an expansion in the number of students in higher educational institutions. In comparison with 1996, the number of university students in 2005 increased by 94% and amounted to 383 thousand people. The contingent of students using distance learning is growing at the fastest pace. At the beginning of 2005, their number in the country amounted to 188.5 thousand people, while admission to correspondence departments institutions of higher education in this academic year almost caught up with admission to full-time departments. At present, the proportion of part-time students in the total number of students studying at universities is 49.3%. Provision of services in the field distance learning creates favorable opportunities for continuing education, continuous expansion and updating of knowledge, constant growth of the professional level, although it cannot be denied that the general level of theoretical training of part-time students is lower than that of full-time students. This shortcoming absentee form training is leveled by the deeper connection of students with the real socio-economic processes taking place in their work collectives, at specific jobs (in this case, it is important that students work in the specialty chosen at the university).

However, in the presence of these positive trends, there are also certain shortcomings in the field of higher education, primarily related to inadequate structural training of personnel in universities in a professional context. Today, in connection with the transition to an innovative path of development, with the formation of a "new economy" in the labor market, there is an increase in demand for engineering and other natural science specialties, due to the introduction of new information technologies in the real sector of the economy. In this regard, based on the demand in the labor market, it is necessary not only to increase the training of personnel in the country's universities, but to optimize its structure based on the priorities of economic dynamics. The relevance of solving these problems is also confirmed by the results of the analysis of recent trends in the structure of highly qualified specialists trained in the country's universities. Thus, in all groups of specialties, except for the humanities, the increase in the number of students is estimated at best by several thousand people, while in the field of social sciences and the humanities, this figure is already moving into the category of tens of thousands.

All this led to the fact that in 2005 the number of students in the humanities exceeded the number of natural, technical, medical and agricultural specialties combined.

The share of graduates in the natural sciences in the total output of universities has decreased over the past decade by 27.6%, and in economic specialties increased by 11,774 people, that is, more than 3 times. However, it should be noted that many university graduates cannot find a job that matches their qualifications, and work outside their specialty or in jobs that, in principle, do not require such a level of education. Therefore, today it is obvious that there is an obvious need to create an effective mechanism for the interaction of the education system with sectors of the economy in the formation of the structure of training and employment of young people.

In Belarus, by 2010 it is planned to increase the index of the level of education in the country to 0.96, and by 2020 - to 0.98 against 0.95 in 2003. This is stated in the National Strategy for Sustainable Social and Economic Development of the Republic of Belarus until 2020.

To achieve these goals, the strategy notes, it is necessary to improve the social status of the teacher and his role in society.

In particular, in 2011-2020. the goal is to bring the national education system to a level that meets world standards. Special attention will be given to the development of higher education. It is planned to improve the quality and improve the structure of training of specialists, to bring it as close as possible to the requirements of the labor market.

In addition, it is necessary to implement a number of organizational measures: to optimize the network of institutions providing general secondary education, taking into account the current demographic situation, to develop a network of educational institutions of a new type, to create university complexes, to form an effective mechanism for the transfer of scientific and technical developments into production by sectors of the economy and regions . It is also necessary to develop distance learning systems at all levels of education, monitoring the quality of education and upbringing of young people, improve the qualified level of teachers and the efficiency of personnel use.

However, in order to achieve the goals and objectives set for education, it is necessary to provide its necessary funding, create conditions for attracting investment in education, and strengthen the role of market economic mechanisms. It is necessary to create a civilized market of educational services, to include the education system of Belarus in the world educational process.

According to UNESCO, in 2003 the education level index in the republic was 0.95 and compared with such countries as Switzerland, Poland, Latvia. By this indicator, Belarus holds a leading position among the CIS countries (Russia, Ukraine - 0.93; Kazakhstan - 0.92; Uzbekistan - 0.91).

Currently, educational organizations provide paid services for:

Training of specialists with higher and secondary specialized education, bachelors, masters, highly qualified scientific personnel;

Retraining and advanced training of specialists;

Additional (in excess of the hours established by the curricula) training in individual subjects, disciplines, courses;

Studying (in excess of the established curricula) additional subjects, disciplines, courses;

Training in institutions providing vocational education for persons with the qualification of a worker and an employee;

Training at the preparatory departments of educational institutions that provide higher education;

Additional preparation (above the curriculum) of children for education in primary school;

Conducting classes in associations of interest over curricula implemented in institutions of basic and additional education, etc.

The Ministry of Education has developed the regulatory legal framework necessary for the organization and provision of paid educational services.

Revenues from the provision of paid educational services by subordinate educational organizations for 2001-2005 in comparable prices increased by 2.5 times (2001 - 63 billion rubles, 2002 - 103 billion rubles, 2003 - 155 billion rubles, 2004 - 177 billion rubles, 2005 - 251 billion rubles). The growth in the provision of paid educational services for the specified period amounted to 161.1%. The main share of the provision of paid educational services falls on higher educational institutions.

For 5 years, the growth in the volume of paid educational services was achieved due to the growth in the training of specialists on a paid basis. In paid educational services, the share of training specialists on a paid basis increased from 73 to 85 percent. The share of retraining and advanced training of specialists for this period was 3 percent, training in preparatory departments, courses - 3.5 percent, training of foreign citizens - 1.5 percent.

During 2001-2005, the proportion of students on a paid basis from the total number of students in state educational institutions of the republic increased from 35 to 46 percent.

In recent years, it has been possible to increase the volume of paid educational services by training specialists in specialties that are in high demand among the population (lawyers, linguists, psychologists, economists), and reimbursement by students in these specialties of the real cost of training.

Due to the emerging demographic situation in the republic (the number of school graduates will decrease by half in 2006-2008), a decrease in the contingent of paid students is predicted. In addition, in accordance with the license for educational activities, each educational institution set the maximum number of students.

For 2006-2010, it is necessary to ensure the growth rate of paid educational services in comparable prices at the level of 138.9-145.5 percent (2006 - 109-110 percent, 2007 - 106-107 percent, 2008 - 106-106 percent). 107 percent, 2009 - 106-107 percent, 2010 - 107-108 percent).

Our country has accumulated a significant university potential, which allows it to occupy high positions in the world educational system. However, in order not only not to lose, but also to increase these achievements, it is necessary:

Optimize the structure of training highly qualified personnel in a professional context in the context of economic development priorities;

Develop a system of analysis and long-term forecasting of market needs for highly qualified specialists, on whom the innovation-oriented restructuring of the economy depends to the greatest extent;

Improve the mechanism of the existing targeted training of graduates, gradually building it in the direction of students studying at their own expense, but building relationships with them purely on a contractual basis;

Expand opportunities for scientific communication for students;

It is necessary to aim such a strong tool of state incentives as the allocation of state educational grants and loans, first of all, to those areas of training of specialists that best meet the needs of innovative development.

Thus, the market of educational services in the Republic of Belarus is actively developing, goals and objectives, ways to improve the development of the market have been defined.