The importance, opportunities, and problems of the higher education system in the process of training personnel for the digital economy in the context of new industrialization have been considered. The analysis and synthesis of studies have been presented by leading organizations of Russia to understand the readiness of Russian higher education for online learning, openness and the willingness of lecturers to introduce modern educational technologies in their activities. Research devoted to the study of the online education perceiving by Russian consumers and their desire to use its capabilities, as well as business attitudes towards the training of online specialists, has been analyzed.