Digitalization and Self-regulation as Elements

of the Future Educational Process Architecture

E. E. Enkova

and I. V. Ershova

Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL), Moscow, Russia

Keywords: Education for Sustainable Development, Futurization of Education, Educational Standards, Jurisprudence,

Digitalization, Self-Regulation, Professional and Public Accreditation.

Abstract: The research objective is to determine the role of the phenomenon of global digitalization and the institution

of self-regulation in the process of education formation for sustainable development. The main methods used

are analysis and forecasting. The main result of the research is that the significant influence of the digital

economy tools and self-regulation mechanisms on the creation of the future educational process architecture

is proved. Conclusions. The correspondence of sustainable education competencies with the key competencies

of the digital economy and the basic components of EU citizens' digital competence is established. The use

of delegated self-regulation mechanisms in the educational sphere is justified by the example of reference

universities creation and the implementation of professional and public accreditation. On the basis of a

sociological research, the factors that prevent the formation of students' "digital" competencies are identified,

and possible ways to overcome them are determined.

1 INTRODUCTION

According to the UNESCO position, in order to

achieve sustainable development, along with

advanced technologies, political will and financial

resources, a different way of people's thinking is

necessary. This requires providing quality education

at all levels regardless of social conditions. It is one

of the main mechanisms for achieving the 17

Sustainable Development Goals that are included in

the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Education for Sustainable Development

(hereinafter also referred to as sustainable education,

ESD) can be defined as an interdisciplinary teaching

methodology that covers the complex social,

economic and environmental aspects of the formal

and non-formal curriculum (Obrazovanie v interesah

ustojchivogo razvitiya, 2020).

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The methodological basis of the research is based on

such methods of scientific cognition as analysis,

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9149-2439

including temporal, synthesis, deduction,

interpretation, forecasting, as well as comparative and

sociological methods.

3 RESEARCH METHODS

3.1 Digital Competencies

The objective trend of modern education is the

competence-based approach aimed at mastering the

complex of normative competencies (Ershova,

Enkova, Levushkin and Dzhindzholiya, 2020).

Sustainable education promotes competencies such

as critical thinking; the ability to continuously,

systematically assimilate and update knowledge,

skills, values, attitudes; imagining future scenarios;

and making decisions on a collaborative basis.

These competencies fully correspond to the key

competencies of the digital economy −

communication and cooperation in the digital

environment; self-development in conditions of

uncertainty; creative thinking; information and data

management; critical thinking in the digital

444

Enkova, E. and Ershova, I.

Digitalization and Self-regulation as Elements of the Future Educational Process Architecture.

DOI: 10.5220/0010670000003223

In Proceedings of the 1st International Scientiﬁc Forum on Sustainable Development of Socio-economic Systems (WFSDS 2021), pages 444-449

ISBN: 978-989-758-597-5

environment. Their list was approved by Order No.

41 of the Ministry of Economic Development of the

Russian Federation on January 24, 2020.

These digital competencies are in harmony with

the European Digital Competence System for

Citizens, also known as DigComp (Vuorikari, Punie,

Carretero Gomez and Van den Brande, 2016).

DigComp 2.0 defines the key components of digital

competence in 5 areas: information literacy;

communication and cooperation; digital content

creation; security; problem solving (The Digital

Competence Framework, 2021).

In 2020, the European Commission approved the

Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027)

"Rebooting Education and Training for the Digital

Age" (Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027),

2021). As part of the strategic priority of the new plan

"Enhancing Digital Skills and Competencies for

Digital Transformation", DigComp 2.0 will be

updated to include artificial intelligence (AI)-related

skills, support the development of AI training

resources for vocational education training (VET)

and professional training, and other training program

providers.

The preamble to the National Strategy for

Sustainable Development of Education in the Russian

Federation, designed by the United Nations

Economic Commission for Europe, reflects that the

development of ESD in Russia is based, in particular,

on the existing educational standards, which reflect a

number of imperatives of sustainable development.

It is noteworthy that the latest generation of

educational standards provides for the mandatory

study of "technological" disciplines. Thus, the federal

State educational standard for higher education −

Master's degree in the field of training 40.04.01

Jurisprudence (hereinafter referred to as the Federal

State Educational Standard for Master's Degree in

2020), approved by the Order of the Ministry of

Education and Science of the Russian Federation No.

1451 dated November 25, 2020, defines as a general

professional competence the ability to apply

information technologies and use legal databases to

solve problems of professional activity, taking into

account the requirements of information security. The

formation of general professional competencies

should be provided by the academic disciplines of the

mandatory part of the Master's program, so the

relevant courses will take their place in the

curriculum of all universities with a Master's degree.

However, it seems that the "digital footprint" is

not sufficiently traced in the universal and general

professional competencies identified in the Master's

Degree 2020 Federal State Educational Standard. The

authors of the article have repeatedly talked about the

importance of forming the key competencies of the

digital economy among graduates of the Master's

degree, offering more appropriate formulations of

them (Ershova and Enkova, 2020). Apparently, this

aspect should be reflected in the professional

competencies that are determined by the educational

organizations themselves.

3.2 Self-regulation Mechanisms

In the aspect of considering the problems of

sustainable education and taking into account the

significant degree of independence granted to

educational organizations in accordance with state

educational standards, we project certain principles

and categories of self-regulation institute on the

activities of a modern university.

Over the past decade, there has been a

consolidation of higher education institutions and the

creation of reference universities. This process has

much in common with the model of classical

delegated voluntary self-regulation. And it is fully

characterized by such general legal principles of self-

regulation as: "freedom of self-regulation,

combination of private and public interests,

cooperation and equality of the parties" (Self-

regulation of Entrepreneurial and Professional

Activity, 2020).

The state-led reform is aimed, first, at optimizing

the system of higher education and science by

increasing the amount of budget funding by reducing

inefficient spending; second, at the economic and

social development of the regions by increasing the

prestige and competitiveness of local universities.

According to experts, the unification of educational

organizations will allow to move from an industry

structure to an academic system based on universities

as diversified corporations of knowledge, meaning,

science, technology, legislators of high living

standards, creators of the future (GARANT, 2020).

The vector of higher education institutions

consolidation is also typical for the EAEU. The

Eurasian Economic Commission has identified a

number of reference universities (for example, Higher

School of Economics, the National Research

University), on the basis of which educational

activities for the training of highly qualified personnel

should be intensified, there will be an expansion of

research and expert-analytical activities (SHugurov

and SHugurova, 2020)

Delegated self-regulation in the educational

sphere is also evident in the implementation of

professional and public accreditation of educational

Digitalization and Self-regulation as Elements of the Future Educational Process Architecture

445

programs. Thus, according to Federal Law No. 273-

FL dated December 29, 2012 "On Education in the

Russian Federation", such accreditation is carried out

by the Association of Lawyers of Russia (hereinafter

referred to as ALR) in order to identify and confirm

the quality of education, the level of graduates

training who meet the requirements of professional

standards, as well as the needs of the specialized labor

market.

The expert activity of ALR has brought

significant results. 150 universities of 170 tested

educational institutions received a certificate of

public accreditation, the level of education quality of

which was highly appreciated by employers from the

legal professional community.

In order to ensure the objectivity and

independence of professional and public

accreditation, the ALR Expert Center for Assessing

the Quality and Qualifications in the Field of

Jurisprudence was registered in 2017. As indicated on

the website of the Expert Center

(http://expertcenteraur.ru/), its creation made it

possible to delineate the powers between the Expert

Center and the ALR and to create a system for making

decisions on accreditation, free from conflicts of

interest. Thus, the Expert Center carries out the

examination; selects and trains experts; prepares

proposals for improving the regulatory quality

assurance of education and the methodology of

accreditation in the field of jurisprudence. At the

same time, the ALR retains the function of the

accreditation organization – the certificate of

professional and public accreditation is signed by its

chairman.

4 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

4.1 Difficulties in Developing Digital

Competencies

Previously, the correlation between the competencies

of ESD and the key competencies of the digital

economy was noted. In this regard, it is appropriate to

present some of the results of the sociological

research conducted by the authors at the O.E. Kutafin

University (MSAL). In 2019, 65 undergraduates were

interviewed as part of the Competence-based

approach to Learning research. The competence

approach in education was positively evaluated by

more than half (53.8%) of the respondents. 18.4% of

respondents have no idea what it is, but they want to

know. More than ¼ of respondents (27.7%) qualified

the studied approach as a formal requirement of

educational standards.

In 2020, 121 undergraduate students and 44

undergraduates took part in Digitalization of the

Educational Process sociological study. 3/4 of the

survey participants said that they did not know the

basic competencies of lawyers for the digital

economy. According to 60.6% of respondents, the

modern system of higher education allows only

partiall forming of the specified competences. 30.9%

of the respondents expressed a negative opinion on

this issue; 8.5% of the respondents answered it

positively.

The respondents named the following barriers to

students' mastering the digital competencies of

lawyers: the lack of an adequate material and

technical base at the university - 59.4%, the lack of

sufficient knowledge and skills among teachers -

35.2%, the indifference of students to the innovations

of the educational process - 29.1%, insufficient legal

support - 25.5%.

It should be noted that the listed stop factors are

qualified as negative systemic drivers of education

development (in particular, the lag of educational

standards from scientific and technological progress,

the disadaptation of teaching staff, the lack of

teaching profession prestige, low motivation of

students) in the draft document "Key directions for

the development of Russian education to achieve the

Goals and Objectives of sustainable development in

the education system" until 2035, published in

February 2020. Federal Institute for the Development

of Education of the Russian Presidential Academy of

National Economy and Public Administration

(Ustojchivoe razvitie v sfere obrazovaniya, 2020).

The problem of digital competence formation is

international. We find references to literature and

reviews of the current condition of research in the

field of digital competencies in the works of foreign

scientists (Oberländer, Beinicke, and Bipp, 2020).

The urgency of digital issues was particularly evident

during the covid-19 pandemic (Mishra, Gupta, and

Shree, 2020). At the same time, it is obvious that the

task of teaching digital literacy (Ershova, Tarasenko,

Enkova and Trofimova, 2021). is equally important

for both students and teachers (Tondeur, Howard and

Yang, 2021). Note that this problem is the subject of

research by foreign experts, whose works present

multidirectional and dynamic strategies for

improving the practice of teachers in the field of

digital competence development (Howard, Tondeur,

Ma and Yang, 2021). Ignoring the opinions and needs

of teachers and students can lead to a digital gap, and

subsequently to a digital gap between representatives

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446

of different generations (Ertl, Csanadi and Tarnai,

2020).

The authors' use of empirical sociology arsenal

made it possible, firstly, to conclude that universities,

having taken a course for sustainable development,

are at the initial stage of this process; secondly, to

identify the key reasons that hinder the formation of

digital competencies among students (also known as

ESD competencies), and to develop a set of measures

to overcome the difficulties that have arisen. It should

be emphasized that efforts must be made at all levels

and in all areas to achieve the intended goal.

For example, the Global Education Action Week

2021 (GAWE) was held from 26 to 30 April. The

activities carried out were aimed at increasing state

funding for education.

If one gives a positive example of a specific

educational organization, then O.E. Kutafin

University (MSLA) has developed local acts that

allowed creating a full-fledged electronic information

and educational environment, implementing

educational programs using e-learning and distance

learning technologies; scientific and methodological

seminars, conferences, and symposiums, including

student ones, are held to discuss critical questions of

digitalization and sustainable development; in the

framework of additional education programs,

teachers have the opportunity to improve their digital

literacy and explore the problems of sustainable

education.

4.2 Integration for Sustainable

Education

A striking manifestation of self-regulation in the

interests of sustainable development was the creation

in March 2021 of Innovative Jurisprudence

Consortium to solve the problems of training highly

qualified specialists, developing scientific and

innovative activities in the field of jurisprudence,

state and municipal administration. Due to the

synergy of traditions and innovations, fundamental

nature and interdisciplinarity, O.E. Kutafin

University (MSLA), as the leader of domestic legal

education, took the initiative to create a Consortium

and became a reference scientific and educational

center within its framework. The Consortium has

already brought together more than 30 participants.

The main objectives of the Consortium are

formulated based on the concept of the sustainable

education formation.

The Consortium is intended to become a

unique scientific and educational ecosystem that

unites the efforts of universities, research institutions,

organizations of the real sector of the economy,

representatives of the business technology and other

organizations, to exchange and implement best

practices in the field of legal education and science,

to create joint, including network, projects.

4.3 Increased Requirements for

Professional and Public

Accreditation

It seems that the activities of the previously named

ALR and the Expert Center should not be limited only

to checking the compliance of educational

organizations with the requirements of the legislation

– the level of professional public accreditation should

be higher than the minimum requirements of

educational standards.

For example, the mentioned Master's degree

program in 2020, in comparison with the previous

Master's Degree program in 2010 (Order of the

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian

Federation No. 1763 dated December 14, 2010), in

terms of requirements for personnel conditions for the

implementation of Master's degree programs

(hereinafter – MP), outlined a vector of liberalization,

and sometimes deregulation in a number of positions.

For clarity, the most significant indicators that have

changed are shown in Table 1.

On the one hand, the removal of a number of

bureaucratic barriers will allow organizations to

review certain elements of personnel policy,

independently building the provision of MP. On the

other hand, reducing the requirements for teachers

implementing Master's programs entails the risk of a

drop in the quality of the educational process in the

Master's program, which is a clear threat to the

stability of this level of higher education. In this

regard, it seems justified to develop a system of more

stringent indicators for conducting public

professional accreditation of educational

organizations, in comparison with those recorded in

the Federal State Educational Standard for Master's

Degree Programs in 2020.

Digitalization and Self-regulation as Elements of the Future Educational Process Architecture

447

Table 1: Requirements for staffing conditions for the implementation of the MP.

Name of the

requirement

Content of the requirements for

Federal State Educational Standard

dated 2010

Content of the requirements for

Federal State Educational Standard

dated 2020

Requirements

or persons implementin

the MP

Basic education According to the profile of the

discipline taught by scientific and

eda

ical staff

o requiremen

Academic degree and/

or academic title

⩾80% of professional cycle disciplines

and research seminars teachers

⩾ 60% of teachers and persons engaged

on other terms

Academic degree of

Doctor of science and

(or) academic title of

Professor

⩾ 40% of professional cycle disciplines

and research seminars teachers

o requiremen

Admission to the

organization's staff

⩾ 70% of professional disciplines full-

time teachers

o requiremen

Requirements

or the head o

the MP

Admission to the

anization's staff

ecessarily Provision is not specifie

Academic degree and/

or academic title

Doctor of Science and (or) Professor in

the profile of MP

Academic degree, not specifie

Work experience ⩾ 3 years in higher education

institutions

o requiremen

Maximum number of

mana

ed MP's

⩽ 1 MP at a time

o requiremen

Advanced trainin

⩾ 1 time in 5

ears

o requiremen

Requirements to the scienti

ic supervisors o

the Masters

Academic degree and/

or academic title

ecessarily

o requiremen

umber of supervised

Masters

⩽ 10 at a time

o requiremen

5 CONCLUSION

The initial postulate, according to which

digitalization and self-regulation are integral

attributes of the education concept for sustainable

development, allowed the authors to draw the

following conclusions:

 the formation of key competencies for the

digital economy, provided for by the Russian

legislation, correlates with the key components

of the digital competence of the European

Union citizens and means nothing more than

the comprehension of sustainable education

competencies;

 the use of digital tools makes it possible to

introduce a project approach into the

educational process, organize network

educational activities, individualize the

educational paths of students and, as a result,

will lead to the introduction of a post-

competence approach to assessing the quality

of education in the foreseeable future;

 the increasing complexity of the electronic

information and educational environment

created by universities will inevitably lead to

the convergence of virtual and everyday reality

in education;

 the use of classical delegated voluntary self-

regulation model in the creation of reference

universities in Russia and within the

framework of the EAEU, as well as in the

conduct of public professional accreditation of

educational organizations, contributes to the

optimization of the domestic higher education

system, strengthening the competitiveness of

domestic universities, improving the efficiency

of training, improving the quality of

educational products.

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448

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The reported study was funded by RFBR according

to the research project № 18-29-16081

«Transformation of the conceptual framework for the

training of lawyers for business in the digital

economy».

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