It is highlighted in the study that digital transformations of the fourth industrial revolution are changing the modern human world, encouraging a person to acquire new competencies and become a qualified specialist in the digital economy. In connection with the progressive scientific and technical development, the institute of higher education is being transformed; new previously unknown approaches to the organization of higher education appear. One of such approaches is the introduction of online learning in higher education. The authors refer to the experience of 2020, when, during the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection, the whole world began to actively transfer work processes to a remote format, which also affected the institute of education. Universities around the world introduced distance learning using information technology, which helped students and faculty communicate at a distance. Based on the analysis, the following conclusions were drawn: digitalization of higher education in Russian universities is currently associated with the use of information and communication technologies in the educational environment and to a lesser extent with the use of electronic educational environment in the indirect interaction of students and teaching staff. In our opinion, it is necessary for the digitalization process to be consistent and not to be reduced to full distance learning, but to competently integrate information technology into the traditional learning process.