The article is devoted to the analysis of the possible directions of social partnership of employers and economics universities. In order to generalize the experience of partnership in the field of vocational education, the choice of partnership approaches and the assessment of the possible benefits from partnership, there was conducted a study of employers in Ukraine. The results of the study allowed us to identify the possible barriers that arise during the formation of partnerships and the most significant areas of social partnership between employers and economics universities. Successful partnership between employers and universities will ensure relative sustainable development of higher economic education, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, improve the image and reputation of enterprises, which means their sustainable development and competitiveness. This will confirm the importance and demand of the enterprise as a mandatory partner for improving the quality of higher education.

The article is devoted to the prospects for innovations in marketing of economic educational services in Ukraine. The research of expectations and requirements of employers for competencies of graduates of institutions of higher economic education has been conducted. «Career growth» has been chosen as the main criterion for determining the totality of competencies of graduates significant for employers. The clustering of employers was carried out on the results of the survey of employers and their assessments of the requirements for competencies of graduates of institutions of higher economic education, necessary for «career growth». The following clusters have been identified: «perfectionists», «maximalists» and «minimalists», who have different requirements for competencies of graduates of institutions of higher economic education. The obtained results became the basis for determining the prospects for innovations in marketing of economic educational services, orienting graduates at certain behavioral models in the process of study. This will be the key to their success in the field of professional activity.

Introduction. The market of educational services is characterised by excess of supply over demand. As a result, there is a need for a detailed research of the criteria for choosing a university by consumers. The competition between universities for attracting potential consumers has intensified in the face of declining demand for most types of educational services. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the competitiveness of universities and to ensure the possibility of their survival on the basis of the maximum consideration of school leavers' expectations. The purpose of the article is to define vectors of promotion of economic educational services in Ukraine based on the results of the cluster analysis of consumers who take into account the criteria which determine the choice of higher education institutions. Methods. While processing empirical data, the following methods were used: statistical analysis was used to find structural relationships between the elements of the system; factor analysis was used to compress data, i.e. to reduce a large number of variables (factors) which were used for clustering and cluster analysis made it possible to identify 4 clusters of consumers of economic educational services. To determine the priority of the criteria for choosing a university, we researched the data related to first-year students studying economics at seven universities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa during a period of six months in 2017. The total sample was 898 respondents, 587 of whom gave full answers to all the questions posed. Results. The priority criteria which determine the choice of the university were identified as a result of the conducted marketing research of consumers. They are: «positive feedback from friends», «availability of interesting specialty», «university's brand», «high qualification of teaching staff», etc. As a result of the conducted cluster analysis, we identified the following clusters: «assertivists», «realists», «those who are oriented to status», «minimalists-followers». Their basic characteristics are given concerning the criteria for choosing a university. Conclusions. The vectors of promotion of economic educational services have been suggested. They are the formation of positive reputation of the university, expansion of the range of criteria which determine the choice of the university in the following researches, presentation of career growth stereotypes, display of the results of the university's international academic cooperation on website, development of social support programs for students. The use of these vectors will allow universities to form loyalty programs for consumers of economic educational services and improve the competitiveness of higher education institutions.

Employment of graduates of higher educational institutions (HEIs) is an important task worldwide. The main problems of employment are due to the existing discrepancy between the education re-ceived by graduates and the needs of business environment. The modern world should focus on the formation of graduates’ competencies in accordance with the demands of employers, which will pro-vide greater access to practical skills for students throughout the entire period of university studies. The purpose of the article is the differentiation of employers, analysis of their needs for graduates of economic specialties, readiness for partnership with HEIs. A survey of experts among employers and HEI professors allowed us to reveal the advantages of their social and professional partnerships and possible problems hampering the process of forming partnership relations. Discriminant analysis became the basis for classifying employers by the degree of their readiness to cooperate with HEIs. Three groups were employers are singled out: “business-focused”, “optimists” and “flagships”. Analysis of employers, taking into account their readiness to form partnership relations with HEIs, will contrib-ute to improving the quality of training personnel in business structures and HEIs.

Assessment of the economic activity of the enterprise in modern business relations requires the necessity of addition of non-financial components to the traditional tool of assessing the financial performance of the enterprise. The purpose of the article was using BSC as a methodological tool for assessing and transforming an enterprise’s mission into short-term tasks and indicators. This allows the authors to identify the most relevant reserves for improving the economic activity of the enterprise. Correlation-regression analysis of the parameters is included in the assessment of the economic activity of the enterprise by basic perspectives. This allows us to make a detailed analysis of internal business processes and external possibilities of enterprise. Division of all researched indicators into key performance indicators (KPI) and auxiliary indicators, depending on the degree of influence on enterprise development has been made. The key performance indicators that have the greatest correlation with others are as follows: net revenue, balance sheet, current assets, fixed funds, raw materials, finished products, cash. It has been established, that the key reserves for the successful development of the enterprise are concentrated mainly in internal processes and the financial perspective of enterprise development. This makes it possible to optimize the process of making managerial decisions in conditions of limited economic resources and uncertainty. Auxiliary indicators are more likely to be parameters supporting the required level of certain KPI in the long term perspective. Using the full range of indicators in the assessment of economic activity of enterprise will allow balancing the direction of sustainable development of enterprise.