The article highlights the most important challenges facing the educational policy of the Russian Federation in the implementation of the principles of inclusive education. In fact, the definition of strategic and operational objectives of the introduction and implementation of inclusion in higher education by the subjects of the educational process at all levels of education will reduce the risks of educational inclusion and increase its potential to ensure an independent life for citizens with disabilities. The article formulates theoretical and methodological recommendations for the implementation of inclusion in higher education. The key issues and the ways of overcoming them are outlined. The authors support the idea of "equal opportunities" discourse as a key for inclusive educational process modelling based on social services, which change the position of universities in general, and force to change the organizational environment and culture towards inclusion.

The Russian universities’ contribution to the achievement of sustainable development goals is analyzed from the prospect of globalism crisis and transition to the global-local paradigm of the existence of a society. The authors proceed from the theoretical premise that the internationally recognized threefold concept of sustainable development encompassing economic development, social stability and environmental sustainability is based on the understanding of the development as a process and a result of subjective and objective factors that effective in activity aimed at building the future of the humankind. Sociocultural approach allows considering the universities’ practices on achieving global goals of sustainable development through local (national and cultural) practices: ecological, economical and socially oriented activity and/ or building ecosystems at a local level. The article is aimed to define the universities’ organizational environment and conditions providing the high level of sustainable development goals’ achievement.Universities implement various strategies to introduce the concept of sustainability into the programs of their development. The practices of the universities known for the effective implementation of sustainability concept into educational, research and social practices oriented to the regional sustainable development are analyzed. The universities under consideration provide stimulating ground for establishing horizontal and vertical relationships among all subjects of sustainable development within their educational environment, fostering sustainability culture and motivating students, teachers and other personnel to achieve sustainability goals. Their experience might be informative for Russian Universities as far as the principles of sustainable development and orientation at building educational ecosystems are formulated in the national programs of regional development in Russia (Flagship Universities Program and Priority 2030 Program). In the Priority 2030 Program, the ecosystem principle is one of the fundamental for the result-oriented innovative development of regional clusters created by the joint efforts of universities, businesses, state and social organizations. However, Russian universities in their striving for designing educational ecosystem mostly focus on research and financial aspects than on the development of a man, whose professional, intellectual and moral formation might contribute to the sustainable development of the region, the nation and the world.

The paper focuses on substantiating the institutional significance of the humanitarian component of University education and demonstrating opportunities for its implementation through non-profit activities of the University community. Transition to the new technological order accentuates the relevance of new personal and communicative competencies formed on the basis of education in humanities. Humanitarization is a priority task, which is reflected in the University education practices in the United States and European countries. The idea of upbringing a humanitarianly educated and humanitarianly oriented personality is declared in the discourses of the world leading Universities’ missions, whose activities are aimed at achieving public good for the society and its sustainable development. Russian documents and discussions on higher education emphasize the importance of humanitarization, but in practice, the humanitarian component in Russian universities is clearly being underestimated. In our opinion, this is due to the fact that humanitarization means mainly the strengthening of the cognitive element of University programs – the expansion of humanitarian specialties and humanitarian courses, but socially oriented University practices are not taken into account. Meanwhile, humanitarization includes both the translation of humanitarian knowledge and values – the strategic goals of the development of society, the state, the region, and the activity-based approbation of the knowledge gained in extra-curricular practices.Humanitarization of higher education is considered in the article from the standpoint of social and philosophical analysis, within the ontological aspect as a mode of being of an institutionally organized human activity on knowledge production and translation, which has closely been expressed in creating University 3.0, as well as in the idea and discourse of the third mission of University. The third mission sufficiently strengthens its emphasis on the anthropological and social function – orientation of University activities towards the genesis of a creative personality and the increased good for society. The goal of achieving the good is explicitly present in those social practices that are aimed at participating in the life of society without direct commercial gain and is implemented outside the University. The article examines the main types of socio-humanitarian practices in universities in Western countries.

The paper is intended to answer the question about the necessity to distinguish between various approaches to reconstruction of interdisciplinarity of regional studies within the scientific and educational fields. There is a problem of establishing of such an interdisciplinary links in teaching practice and in application of research results in training programs. Within the educational program it is possible to introduce a lot of various interdisciplinary fields, when different sciences may play a leading role to represent the context. It is shown that historical disciplines play an important role within regional studies.

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