The forced shift to remote learning in universities in March 2020 raised the complex issues of organizing lifelong learning for students, conducting academic assessments and maintaining the stability of the educational institution in general for educational systems of all countries of the world. This paper examines peculiarities and general problems of distance learning in the higher education system. It is based on the materials of the sociological survey “Opinions of Russian universities’ students on the forced distance learning”, conducted in May-June 2020. 31,423 university students in all federal subjects of Russia were interviewed. Analysis of research data covers the following areas: organizational problems of transition to distance learning; resources used, organization of lectures and seminars, assessment of the positive and negative aspects of distance learning; perspectives, limitations and trajectories of distance learning implementation in Russian universities.The article also provides comparative data on the analysis of the issues of distant learning of Russian and foreign researchers. The authors propose future-oriented measures for organizing distance learning in universities in the case of the introduction of quarantine restrictions, consider possible forms of combining distance and full-time education, the prospects for the introduction of digital technologies in the organization of training in universities.

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The objective request for the compliance of all spheres of life with the requirements of the information society has accelerated processes determined by the restrictive measures of the covid-19 pandemic. Almost all sectors of the economy were forced to switch to remote working; however, the education system was the most affected. The mass transition to distance learning revealed a number of challenges and contradictions in distant forms of the higher education programs and made the Russian education system respond to the challenges of the digital society. This required a deep analysis of various aspects of distance learning, readiness of all education actors to work remotely, availability of material-technical facilities, methodological support and software, and also an assessment of prospects and scenarios for the development of the Russian education system after the pandemic. In May 2020, the Center for Education Development Strategy at Lomonosov Moscow State University and the RUDN Department of Sociology, with the support of the Russian Professors Assembly, conducted a survey of the academic personnel to study universities transition to distance learning. The survey data reveled the real situation in the education system, features of the forced transition to remote working and challenges of such an educational format, and allowed to reconstruct a portrait of the teacher most skeptical to distance learning. The study helped to make a number of recommendations on improving forms and methods of learning and on developing education technologies in universities; to identify the main risks of distance education and to suggest possible forms of mixed learning in Russian universities.

About ten years ago, a new theoretical branch appeared in Czech sociology -historical sociology. The first step and prerequisite for its development was publication of the impressive collective monograph Historical Sociology: Theory of Long-Term Development (edited by J. Šubrt) including works of famous Czech social scientists (P. Machonin, M. Petrusek, J. Musil, M. Hroch and others). The concept of historical sociology curriculum appeared in 2007, its form gradually developed in the discussions of J. Šubrt, J.P. Arnason (La Trobe University), M. Havelka (Charles University) and W. Spohn (University of Wroclaw). In 2008, its accreditation documents were prepared under the guidance of J. Šubrt, and it was included in the academic year 2009/2010 schedule. At the same time, at the Faculty of Humanities of the Charles University the Department of Historical Sociology was founded. Until now, there are Master's and PhD programs in Historical Sociology in Czech in the form of regular daily and combined (distance) studies.In the academic year 2012/2013, a doctoral studies program was also opened, and both programs -Master's and PhD's -started in English. The article considers the decade-long development of historical sociology in the Czech Republic focusing on the research and study programs at the Faculty of Humanities of the Charles University. The author explains how historical sociology is defined and developing in the Czech Republic, emphasizing its research traditions and current interests. The article pays particular attention to the topics and representatives of historical sociology mentioning the importance of its publicationsboth monographs and the journal established in 2009. To conclude, the author summarizes the results of the current stage of the development of Czech historical sociology, its challenges and risks, hopes and perspectives. Ten years is usually a very short period for any science but for Czech historical sociology they became a period of significant results.