The article examines the competencies of university transformation teams as the main factor in the success of the implementation of strategic projects of strategic changes of the university. A theoretical and empirical study of the competencies of university transformation project teams has been conducted. The importance of the competence of the management team of academic sector transformation projects is determined. Empirical data were collected on the materials of a cross-country analysis, implemented in two stages: (1) questionnaire survey of 203 experts from universities in Russia, Serbia, Georgia, Iran; (2) in-depth semi-formalized interview of 78 informants in three Russian universities. Based on the empirical data, the competence profile of qualified specialists (from among the administrative and managerial staff of universities involved in university transformation project teams) was measured, and a competence model was built. The analysis of the experience of implementing specific transformation projects of the university allowed us to identify significant criteria for the success of these projects: the fact of completion of the project; the obtained result and product of the project that suits the customer / consumer. When as sessing success, it is more important for experts to receive a product and to a much lesser extent the criterion of product quality is significant. When assessing the failure of projects, the absolute majority of experts named the unsatisfactory quality of the product and the result of the university transformation project as the most important criterion. The perception of success is almost not affected by the criterion of meeting the deadlines of the project, but the state of failure is determined by compliance with the time frame of the project. Stakeholders’ satisfaction with the project results is designated as a significant criterion for both the success and failure of the project. The positions of the administrative and managerial staff of universities regarding the criteria for the success of project activities of transformation correlate with the existing standards for evaluating project activities. Measures are proposed to improve the competencies of the project teams of the transformation of universities. The research has value for the leadership of the academic sector for the development of team competencies of employees.

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