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JEL Codes

1 Introduction

Investments in human capital and education are of great importance for the development of the economy in Russia. To compare social development, there is a human development index whose main components are longevity, education, and per capita GDP. Education determines a country with a high or no level of human development.

It is important to understand that a significant share of the growth in GDP gives an intellectual component. With the development of information technologies and the education system, digitalization is becoming an integral part of it. Very high demands are made by employers for the labor qualities of students, complex tasks are set for the field of education, and employment of young people. An important role is given to the modernization and development of the education system since the growth of specialists with higher education is characteristic of countries with developed markets and a high share of intangible products in GDP (Charles & Zegarra, 2014; Charnes et al., 1978; Domenech et al., 2016; Saisana et al., 2005; Schultz, 1961).

The methodology for assessing the educational potential of regions for the economic security of Russia is an actual issue on the condition of financial instability.

The differentiation of human potential in different regions cannot but affect the quality, resource provision of the education system that influences the socioeconomic state of the regions and the possibility of effective economic growth (Chigarin, 2015; Porunov, 2017).

2 Methodology

The methodological basis of the study was made up of economic and static methods, a systematic approach, and a method of optimal solutions. The methodology was tested using official data from the Federal State Statistics Service and the Ministry of Finance of Russia for 2018–2019.

At the first stage, quantitative indicators were selected (Becker, 1994; Charnes et al., 1994; Chigarin, 2015; James, 2015; Kornilov et al., 2019; Porunov, 2017). Their analysis allowed us to draw some qualitative conclusions about the educational potential based on operational network indicators, indicators of regional digitalization, the financial and economic situation of the regions.

The second stage represents the analytical processing of the collected data and the formation of a system of indicators. The educational potential of the regions is assessed in terms of the following indicators: operational-network indicators of education; indicators of regional digitalization and the financial-economic situation of the regions. Tables 16.1, 16.2 and 16.3 describe in detail the indicated groups of indicators.

Table 16.1 Group of operational-network indicators of the educational potential in regions
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Table 16.2 Group of indicators of regional digitalization
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Table 16.3 Group economic and financial indicators in the region
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The group of operational-network indicators of the regional educational potential is united by the integral indicator of the presence of a developed education system for the country. This integral component is used in the preparation of the rating of educational potential as a guide. The presence of universities in the regions leads to an increase in the percentage of young people with higher education.

Indicators of the number of students enrolled in bachelor’s, specialist’s, master’s programs (thousand people), admission to bachelor’s, specialist’s, master’s programs (thousand people), graduation of bachelors, masters (thousand people), a material and technical provision in educational institutions, training of highly qualified personnel, their employment, involvement in the labor market, involvement in science (for inventions, for utility models) are important not only as a benchmark for the country’s education but also its quality component.

Integral index of regional digitalization factors characterizes the development of technologies, the use of information technologies (PCs, servers), and utilization rates of network security (organizational use of the Internet, including broadband access).

A group of economic and financial indicators of the region includes the average monthly nominal wage of employees of organizations (RUR), the coefficients of production capacity, the cost of innovation, the scope of innovation, investment development, investment allocation, regional income, the ratio of the consolidated revenues and gross regional product, the ratio of costs of subjects of consolidated budgets Russia and the GRP, the ratio of costs and revenues of the consolidated budgets of the RF subjects, the growth of industrial production, and production by economic activity. The regional economies are aimed at innovative development, so it is important for creating innovative products.

The third stage involves the calibration coefficients into groups.

To transform coefficients to a common measurement interval, it is necessary to make its calibration, based on the performance requirements (minimize or maximize) (Porunov, 2017). The following formulas are used for calibration while minimizing indicators (16.1) and calibration for maximizing indicators (16.2).

$${K}_{ij}^{*}=\frac{{K}_{ij}-{K}_{i min}}{{K}_{i max}-{K}_{i min}},$$
(16.1)
$${K}_{ij}^{*}=\frac{{K}_{i max}-{K}_{ij}}{{K}_{i max}-{K}_{i min}},$$
(16.2)

where \({K}_{ij}^{*}\)—a calibrated indicator \(i\)th the proposed index for the diagnosis of the educational potential of the regions in \(j\)th region, \({K}_{ij}\)—estimated value \(i\)th proposed educational potential diagnostic indicator regions \(j\)th region, \({K}_{i max}\)—the highest calculated value \(i\)th index among the analyzed RF subjects, \({K}_{i min}\)—the smallest calculated value \(i\)th index among the analyzed RF subjects. This method of calibration leads to a change in the values of the indicators in the range from 0 to 1.

In the fourth stage, the group summarizes the calibrated parameters in order to determine the cumulative coefficient of the calibrated complex (SKKK). The region with the minimum number of points is in the first place.

3 Results

The empirical results of the research are illustrated in Table 16.4.

Table 16.4 The regional educational potential system of indicators of the condition of digitalization, 2018 (fragment)
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All regions, based on the value of the calibrated indicator of the educational potential of the regions, were divided into three groups: first group—“leading regions”; second group—“mixed regions”; third group—“outsider regions”.

4 Conclusion

In general, the use of the methodology of evaluating the educational potential of the regions for the economic security of Russia on the condition of digitalization allowed:

  • assess educational potential in individual areas and obtain a comprehensive comparative assessment by region;

  • find a quantitative measure for assessing the educational potential of regions, taking into account the operational network indicators of education, regional digitalization, economic and financial indicators;

  • to determine the effective boundaries for assessing the educational potential of the regions, taking into account the operational network indicators of education, regional digitalization, economic and financial indicators;

  • to determine directions of changes in the operational network indicators of education, regional digitalization, economic and financial indicators to achieve the values of the best regions.

The results obtained will serve to meet the information needs of federal and regional management. Evaluation of the numerical value by the level of educational potential allows making effective financial decisions at the state level that contribute to improving the quality and accessibility of education. All decisions are focusing on the training of highly qualified personnel, which affects the development of human capital as the main value of the state.