In 2008–2009, 29 national research universities (NRU) with approved priority areas of development were established in Russia. In 2019 the ten-year program of development of NRU comes to an end. The article presents the results of the analysis of the national research universities’ activity of training scientific personnel for high-tech industries. Two indicators were calculated for each priority area of development of NRU reflecting the shares of defenses of candidate and doctor theses in the national research universities in relation to all thesis defenses. This made it possible to assess what leading positions in priority areas are occupied by the national research universities. The analysis showed that NRU do not provide leading positions to 30% of the priority areas of development. In general, most of the national research universities occupy high positions in certain (specific) priority areas of development in terms of training scientific personnel for high-tech sectors of the economy.

Harmonization of Postgraduate Training System with the Certification of Candidates of Sciences The activities of the postgraduate school and the network of dissertation councils represent the stages of the trajectory of the formation of a researcher with an academic degree. This means that their activities should be coordinated. The article discusses several approaches to the harmonization: at the level of each organization – by the presence or absence of one of the participants in the trajectory, and at the thematic level. For each approach, statistical estimates of consistency are calculated, and cartographic representations of indicators in the context of the subjects of the federation are given. The analysis showed that, in general, there is a territorial alignment of the organizations for postgraduate student training with the organizations in which a candidate’s thesis can be defended.