University as a system-forming factor of regional development: a social-cultural aspect

The concept of a modern “regional university” is a key point in many discussions about the current hierarchy of higher education. The reforming of the higher education system entailed graduation of universities into federal, research, support and regional ones. Although, in our opinion, it is not quite legitimate to place regional universities in this classification, as well as a research and flagship university, in their main functions, can be regional universities. Considering the degree of interpenetration of two subsystems of a “region” and “university”, the article attempts to comprehensively analyze the mission of a “regional university”. The basis of the research methodology was the dialectical method and the historical approach. In the complex study of a university as a complex system, the main aspects of the synergetic theory were taken into account. Analyzing the sociocultural processes of development of a modern regional university, the authors rely on concepts formed in Philosophy, Cultural studies and Sociology. It’s been concluded that sociocultural changes that occur in the external environment entail synchronous transformations in university education, where an adaptive model is created that allows the university to maintain its traditional uniqueness for all modern challenges.