Elena Sekirina | People's Friendship University of Russia (original) (raw)

Papers by Elena Sekirina

The article mainstreams the problems and prospects of transformation of the educational process, ... more The article mainstreams the problems and prospects of transformation of the educational process, caused by the occurrence of informative and educative clusters (Open Online Courses).
The system of high academic education is currently on the verge of radical transformation. The main sources of such transformations are technology and globalization. Acceleration of innovative processes, in various sectors of the modern society, acts as the catalyst for the changes in the methods of acquiring and producing knowledge. The ICDE (International Council for Open and Distance Education) annual report clearly shows that the technological basis, of execution of the educational processes, will substantially change the whole education system (71% respondents) within the next 5 years. Hence, the modern technologies are changing the direction of development of higher academic education, towards remote and mobile access to educational services – creation of open online courses.
Within the scope of this article, the open online courses are analyzed as a new technological space, in which a wide range of educational programs, offered by universities as well as private non-professional teachers (coaches), are functioning. The progressive development of society generates new demands and requirements towards the educational process, which are satisfied by the large number of online courses, in social networks, by “practitioners”.
Apart from that, the analysis of the labor market, using the synergetic approach, enabled us to identify the stimulating effect on the whole education system, and to identify two interconnected processes – occurrence of new forms of professionals (smm manager, copywriter etc.), as well as the transformation of existing focused specialties - development of Agile-masters.
So, the modern information and technological terms & conditions transform the educational process in the following manner:
- It is becoming necessary to apply such teaching techniques, which are aimed not at the mechanical transfer of knowledge, but are aimed at personal interaction with the student.
- The role of teachers “Practitioners” is growing, as a complimentary form for the “scientific environment of research instructors”.
- Individualization of the educational process.
- Creation of a fragmented platform for the provision of educational services.
- Unification of educational standards, departure from focused specialization in education, which provides for enhanced mobility of students in the labor market.
Changes in the economic and technological aspects of the modern world, have brought us to the formation of new information and educational clusters (open online courses), which in turn lead to the transformation of the educational process – transfer and acquisition of knowledge and crafting of skills and capacities needed under contemporary conditions, methods of communication among the participants of the educational process, as well as the occurrence of new positions.
Keywords: High education, open online courses, information and communication technologies, distance education information society.

The article actualizes the information society's formation as a new postindustrial form of societ... more The article actualizes the information society's formation as a new postindustrial form of society's socioeconomic organization based on the mass use of information and telecommunication technologies (ICT). ICT development index (IDI) provided by the International Telecommunications Union annually shows the progress of ICT being accessible to more and more people around the globe. IDI average value for all countries gained 0.18 points in 2016-2017. The growing pace of social development is accompanied by a change in the structure of civil society: network communities and organizations emerge. Public authorities in this situation are seeking new and more efficient technologies of public administration. The synergetic method of analysis applied to information society and public administration makes it possible to unequivocally determine that the specific feature of this co-interaction stimulates improvement of both the internal structure of a state and international cooperation. The analysis made it possible to actualize the problems of interaction between public administration and the public, and provide possible ways of their solving to modernize the system of public administration:-improve the legal regulation of data protection;-modernize the system of public control over state bodies;-protect the state's geopolitical identification;-create a balanced system of vertical power structure and self-governing network structures of civil society. Globalization processes and dissemination of information technologies lead to increased decentralization, demassification and fragmentation of management, which in turn stimulates the development of a network approach and modular organization in public administration. The collaboration between advanced ICTs such as Internet of 1 The publication was prepared with the support of the "RUDN University Program 5-100" Things (IoT) ("smart city"; "smart environment") and public administration contributes to the progress in the field of sustainable development of a country in general.

The article brings up to date the issue of corruption in the system of public management in Europ... more The article brings up to date the issue of corruption in the system of public management in European states. A set of measures to improve anti-corruption activities at the current stage of development of the world community is provided on the basis of the efficiency analysis regarding the current corruption preventive policy.

The issue of corruption is among the global challenges of the day, addressing which will affect the way of development of the world community in the new century. One can see socially destructive consequences of corruption in all aspects of public life. Today, the issues of corruption are of special concern in respect of public authorities.

The issue of corruption with multiple forms, such as lobbying, bribery, veiled thefts and abuses, is a social disease that is being globally integrated into the world community. However, the issue is of equal concern for developed countries as well as for the countries with the lower levels of economic development.

“Transparency International” International non-governmental organization publishes annual ratings of countries regarding the level of perception of corruption. In 2016, for example, the average figure for 176 countries of the world was 43 points out of 100. In 2016, Denmark and New Zealand recorded the lowest level of corruption. These countries scored 90 points. Finland, Sweden and Switzerland were also found in the first five. The highest level of corruption was recorded in Somalia, South Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Yemen, - these countries scored less than 20 points.

The rating illustrates interdependence between corruption and inequality in the distribution of power and national income in society.

Corruption is a system of social relations that destruct society. However, there is no consensus on the reasons for corruption. To some extent, it is related to the intersectoral nature of the phenomenon, which is being studied by scientists from different branches of science at the same time (lawyers, managers, economists, sociologists, political scientists, etc.). The "multidimensional picture" of the causes of corruption, received as the result of the analysis will provide an opportunity to significantly modernize the anti-corruption policy.

The analysis of public management, using the "principal-agency relationships" model shows explicitly that the main reason for the phenomenon of corruption in public administration is a conflict of interests between the managed society and its public officers. This conflict of interests can be balanced through moral education of public servants, nurturing moral principles and values of the professional culture of officials in the new trends of public administration development.

The problem of an integrated approach to the analysis of this social phenomenon appears to be the only option for a truly effective policy for preventing corruption at all levels of public service.
keywords: corruption, anti-corruption expertise, public administration, corruption preventing policy.

The article mainstreams the problems and prospects of development of higher academic distance edu... more The article mainstreams the problems and prospects of development of higher academic distance education as a factor of globalization of education system in general. The ICT Development Index (IDI) calculated annually by the International Telecommunication Union indicates progress in access to ICTs around the world. The average IDI value rose by 0.18 points from 2016 to 2017 for all countries. The development of information technologies could not but influence the process of education. E-learning as a new mode of learning using various multimedia tools provides almost unlimited access to knowledge for a person staying anywhere and learning at a convenient time, as well as flexibility and scalability. The article defines higher academic distance education as the "standardized" part of the broad concept of E-learning, which also includes "daily self-development of an individual" (studying at various training courses or trainings, studying information bases, and so on). In percentage terms, at present higher academic distance education is a competitive equivalent of the classical full-time / correspondence system of education. According to the annual report of the ICDE (International Council for Open and Distance Education), almost 71% of respondents agreed that technical facilitation of educational process will change the entire education system significantly within 5 years. Consequently, modern E-learning technologies put higher academic education to a new stage of development, which is a distance platform that allows provision of high-quality educational services in a more mobile way. The synergistic approach studying distance education makes it possible to unequivocally determine that this method of education has a stimulating effect both on the national system of higher academic education and on the globalization processes in the field. The analysis of dynamics of the higher academic distance education development makes it possible to emphasize problem areas in this field: − financial support for the development of innovative technical platforms for educational process; − insufficient number of qualified specialists, including for training teachers; − moral and ethical norms of a new form of teacher-student communication; − preservation of the national system of education. These problems are possible to be solved due to the growing role of global interaction, leading to education process globalization. In these circumstances, creation of an open international learning space: the "global electronic institute" can become a promising direction of development as well as of leveling the identified problem areas of higher academic distance education. This learning space will provide equal access to educational programs for teachers and students from developed and developing countries as well. The relevance of this line of development is confirmed by the Global Innovation Index (GII-2017) data, which demonstrates the existence of a gap in the innovative capabilities of developed and developing countries, which does not contribute to the world community's development and global problems' solving.

The rating illustrates interdependence between corruption and inequality in the distribution of power and national income in society.