Problems and prospects of education in the context of digitalization of the Russian economy
The article attempts to apply a systematic approach to the assessment of higher education trends under the changing socio-economic environment and their consequences for the industry and society in whole. The definitions of “digital economy” made by different authors are analyzed; the authors ' evaluation and understanding of this term is given in the article. The aim of this work is to identify the possible consequences of digitalization of the economy for such an important institutional sphere of society as education. The authors do not agree with excessive optimistic approach, which is currently typical for many scientific studies, in measuring the effects of digitalization on the economics and industry. First of all, it is necessary to understand that some innovations related to the use of the digital environment in education will contribute to training of the future graduates for their life activity in a rapidly changing world; on the other hand, it will cause negative social consequences, which may ultimately be critical for the development of civilization, its humanistic component. It is necessary to remember that any global changes can have a negative impact on many individual lives, so one of the social functions of a developed state is to prevent and reduce the negative consequences of economic processes. The final part of the article includes the results of the analysis, conclusions about the need to develop preventive methods to reduce the negative consequences of the technocratic path of social development as a whole and for each person in our society, the result of which is now the “digital economy”.