Recently, higher education in Russia and abroad has been transformed significantly. Both universities and the state have to tackle challenging and multidirectional tasks. Analysis of theoretical research on the types of higher education institutions and the determining factors provides insights into drivers for development. Simultaneously, multivariate methodology for assessing the state of higher education allows identifying the factors that most affect its transformation. Th e stud y demonstrate s that these factors depend on the development strategy and economic model of a university as well as government programmes for the development of education and science. One of the major factors affecting the development of regional higher education is the presence of a leading university in the region. This situation is economically justified due to the strong dependence of universities on the federal budget. Moreover, a leading university creates an educational environment for academic staff and students. Their participation in scientifi c researc h an d academi c activitie s positivel y influen ce t he developme nt of regional systems. The growing gap between the leading university and other education institutions leads to monopolisation, decrease in competition, and, consequently, decline in performance. Thus, there is a need for structural changes. The particular factors affecting the development of the higher education are the indicators of academic activity and student performance. The conducted analysis suggests the intensification of the trends, indicating further differentiation of regional higher education system with a simultaneous improvement of individual universities in research and development. Additionally, it is necessary to examine the feasibility of structural adjustment within regional systems due to the growing imbalances in development.

The population migration has attracted attention for more than a decade. As migration consequences differ in terms of characteristics and directions, governments worldwide are looking for solutions to regulate migration flows. The study aims to systematise push-pull factors of migration by analysing existing cases, as well as to build a model for predicting migration considering the quantitative interpretation of such factors. While migration factors are quite similar regardless of the country of residence, their main differences are compatibility and hierarchy. The most frequently mentioned factors include the expectation of income increase, improvement in the quality of life, professional aspects. Simultaneously, a certain pattern emerges: if a migrant’s material and economic needs are satisfied in the country of departure, they pay more attention to intangible/non-economic benefits (quality of life, infrastructure, etc.). A dynamic forecasting model for scientific migration has been developed based on the theory of positional games. The model demonstrates the changes in migration flows by describing the behaviour of a rational individual who seeks to maximise benefits from migration. The result of the simulation is a short-term forecast of trends in scientific migration of Ural scholars to key migration countries. The model predicts the intensification of migration flows to the leading Asian countries, their alignment with flows to America, and a decrease in migration to European countries. This forecast is characterised by a direct dependence of the dynamics of scientific migration flows on the socio-economic development of migration destinations. Practical implications of this study include the development of a predictive model describing migration flows in the short term as an analytical tool and systematisation of pull-push factors as key indicators for managing the migration flows of scientists. In addition, the research proposes measures positively affecting the balance of scientific migration.