This paper focuses on the use of interactive technologies and distance learning in sustainable education. It discusses how remote learning technologies can positively influence students’ learning and entry in sustainable education. The paper looks at the use of distance learning in higher education as a means to help students in the built environment and its use within the education system. It studies and expands the theoretical research on the benefits of distance learning, where the study is remote and there is no personal contact with staff or students, and examines the impact of distance learning on the student’s learning experience. It also proposes and evaluates potential solutions to overcome the barriers to learning in the built environment and create successful virtual learning communities, recognising that such improvements must be reconciled with the primary benefits identified. The paper provides an overview of sustainable distance learning within higher education and discusses the differences between learning outside the structural environment of a profession, what it means for the student’s learning experience and the potential to overcome barriers to distance learning. This is a very timely topic in the times of COVID-10 pandemic. Lockdowns of the economy and social life impacted all spheres of education with schools and universities closed for long periods of time and all teaching moved to online and distance mode. However, coronavirus pandemic also brought the digital surge in the system of education, including the sustainable education. All these innovations might stay after the pandemic and help the education to evolve and to embrace more novel trends and technologies.

Relevance of the problem under study is explained by the beginning of a new stage in the development of Russian volunteer movement in the field of preservation of cultural monuments, which coincided with the rise of research interest in volunteering in general. The objective of this paper consists in comprehensive analysis of the modern history of restoration voluntary movement in Russia, examination of evolvement of public voluntary practices in the field of protection of the architectural heritage of the country in the context of general cultural, socio-economic, political processes that have taken place in Russia over the past decades, which have determined the specific organizational forms, content and activities of voluntary activists. The leading approach to the study of this problem is the historical method, as well as methodological principles of historicism, scientificity, objectivity, as well as sociality, integrity and fundamentality, involving the study of the historical process of volunteering in the totality of facts and sources in their logical and chronological sequence. The paper describes the main forms of volunteer practices for monument preservation, gives an overview of volunteer initiatives, as well as the efforts of charitable foundations and public organizations aimed at rescuing the cultural heritage of the country, identifies the development trajectories of restoration volunteering, and also specifies the key trends, based on which the tendency to professionalization and gradual expansion of the scope of voluntary work has been revealed. Materials of the paper can be useful not only for scientists, engaged in research of problems of social history of our country, but also for specialists from social sphere, organizers of work with youth, and also students of socio-humanitarian and pedagogical profiles.

Purpose of the study: To study the ways to increase the communicative competence of social sphere specialists, aimed at the formation of professional and personal qualities, communicative skills, and development of professional interest and success. Methodology: Some theoretical and empirical research methods are used: analysis of publications in social work, normative documentation on the research issue; diagnostic methods: questioning, testing, interviews; experimental methods: ascertaining, forming, and control stages of the experiment; stating, forming and control stages of the experiment; methods of statistical processing of research results. Main Findings: The main results of the study showed that the modern practice of successful organization of social service activities requires a thoughtful approach. The head, together with the full-time psychologist, should monitor the communicative competence of the specialists working at this service and timely organize the work to overcome the manifestations of professional burnout of specialists and prevent their professional deformation. The significance of the influence of active teaching methods on interpersonal communication has allowed us to develop and test several practically effective teaching methods that increase the effectiveness of interaction with others in professional communication. Applications of this study: This study reveals the possibilities of improving the communicative competence of the specialists working at social service departments in modern conditions of systematic emotional overload when performing their professional duties. This theme is quite relevant for the activities of any service within “person to person” interaction, especially a social one, having its specifics and directed at helping a person facing a social problem. Novelty/Originality of this study: The novelty of this study is in justifying the need for organizing activities to improve the communicative competence of social service specialists using modern socio-psychological developments. In the modern practice of holding social work, this component is often overlooked, which subsequently leads to frequent conflicts among social service employees and recipients of social services, a gradual loss of interest in the work performed, and, as a result, its indifferent fulfilment.

This research article focuses on the regional concentration of higher education. The purpose of the research is to examine the effects of this concentration and to devise some possible outcomes and implications for the regional economic growth and development. We discuss the endogeneity of higher education and evaluate the differences such as the official demographic projections or the growth-related factors, including student numbers predicted by official statisticians. Our article contributes to ongoing research on the role of higher education in promoting regional economic development and emerging inequalities in the regions around the world. In addition, it focuses on the existence of the multiple channels of activity through which tertiary education institutions (TEIs) benefit their regional economies. In addition, the paper tackles the issue of regional concentration of TEIs within and across regions and clearly demonstrates how the geography of higher education has evolved and developed in the recent years.

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