At the time of educational system reorganization, the higher school’s fast response to the changing personal, labor market and society demands becomes even more relevant. The content flexibility of educational curricula and graduates’ qualification are regarded as the main criteria for the budget funding of a particular educational institution. The paper con­siders the ways for overcoming the Russian higher school’s problems, and improving the competitiveness and education quality assurance. As a solution, the author puts forward the priority selection aimed at improving the education quality in a particular institution and university complex. The above algorithm involves the two following stages: first, the necessary activities are rated according to their prospective impact; then the selected list of actions and implementation sequences are specified considering the maximum productivity of the resources and efforts applied. The author recommends the expert assessment method for conducting the first stage procedure, and Pareto method for the last one. The application of the priority selection algorithm is exemplified by the procedures conducted in Ural State University of Railway Transport.

The research data can be of interest to the heads of educational institutions and university complexes.

1. Vygotskij L. S. Collected Works. T. 2. M.: Pedagogika, 1982. 248 p. (in Russian)

2. Gucykova S. V. Method of expert assessments. M.: Institut psihologii RAN, 2011. 136 p. (In Russian)

3. Erkovich S., Suvorov S. Мultistage education system integrity. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii. 2004. № 3. Р. 35–43. (In Russian)

4. Interview Education Minister Dmitry Livanov «System of higher education reform awaits» 04/06/2012 [Electron. resource]. Mode of access: http://www. regnum. ru/news/polit/1537366. html (date of access 16.06.12). (In Russian)

5. Makarov I. M., Vinogradskaja T. M., Rubchinskij A. A., So­ko­lov V. B. Theory of choice and decision-making. M.: Nauka. 1982. 328 p. (In Russian)

6. Multicriteria decision making problems / ed. DM Gvishnani, SV Emelyanov. Mashinostroyeniye. 1978. 210 p. (In Russian)

7. Os'kina M. N. Preparing staffing railway enterprises in the conditions of the university complex. Sbornik nauchnyh trudov. RSVPU. № 85 (168), Ekaterinburg, 2010. Р. 108–117. (In Russian)

8. Podinovskij V. V., Nogin V. D. Pareto optimal solutions of multiobjective problems. M.: Nauka, 1982. 256 p. (In Russian)

9. Functional Strategy Capacity Building JSC «Russian Railways». Disposal of OAO «Russian Railways» from 10.05.2006 № 933. M.: OAO «RZhD», 2006. 56 р. (In Russian)

10. Jablonskij A. I. Stochastic models of scientific activity. Sistemnye issledovanija: ezhegodnik. M.: Nauka, 1975. Р. 5–43. (In Russian)

11. http://teacher. dn-ua. com/old_version/algoritm/algoritm.html (date of access 18.05.12)

12. http://www. inventech. ru/pub/methods/ (date of access 18.512)