Problems of Efficiency of Management of the Higher Education System

The paper attempts to evaluate the efficiency of higher education system management based on measurable quantitative criteria of the performance of employees with higher education. For this purpose, the dynamics of the premium for higher education of employed specialists of higher and middle qualification levels in Russia in the 21 st century was studied. The results of the study showed a drop in the premium for employed specialists of the highest qualification level. Moreover, a drop to a level two times lower than the premium for higher education of specialists of the middle qualification level is observed. At the same time, the increase in the number of employed workers with higher education did not have a significant impact on the premium for higher education of employed specialists of the highest qualification level. The results of the study suggest that most universities essentially perform the functions of secondary vocational education institutions. The results of the research suggest that the reforms of higher education carried out in the post-Soviet period entailed a drop in the level and quality, in fact, the degradation of higher education. It can be assumed that the educational reforms carried out in the post-Soviet period contributed to the decline in the level and quality of education due to the collapse of the terms of study, the transition to the uncertainty of the content of education, conditioned by the competence approach, shortcomings of fundamental training with an unjustified focus on practical training. The problems of the decline in the level and quality of education can obviously be caused by the outdated and ineffective command-and-control management system, rooted in Taylorism, the lack of understanding of the essence of the category «education», the lack of practice of scientifically based quality management.