The modern world is entering a new state of its development associated with the digitalization process. It affects all aspects of society, changes the traditional foundations and imposes new requirements for the educational process. National educational systems cannot remain aloof from this process. The purpose of this article is to study the digitalization process and its impact on the education system of the world and the Russian Federation. The methodology of the article is based on a systemic and structural-functional approach. The validity of the results of the study is based on the use of popular scientific and special methods, including analysis, synthesis, historical and comparative analysis. On the basis of the analysis of scientific literature, the authors formed an overall picture of the problem under consideration. The work analyzes the processes occurring in the world associated with the beginning of a new historical period. The new time also imposes new requirements on various branches of knowledge, updates approaches to the use of modern and future information technologies. A particular place is given to the synergistic approach, which is an optimistic alternative to mastering the knowledge and competencies of the digital education. In the article the authors point to the lag in the theoretical base of the digitalization process, the lag in infrastructure, shortcomings in the organization of the educational process, reveal cognitive contradictions and, at the same time, show possible ways to solve them.