Abstract:

Assessing the competitiveness of universities is the subject of many different studies. Among the indicators of university competitiveness, the most important, in our opinion, is the competitiveness of educational programs. It is through the implementation of educational programs that the university provides educational services, forms its image and reputation. The search for competitive advantages is the main component of any university, as there is high competition in the educational services market. The adoption and promotion of the Bologna process in Russia, state policy aimed at improving the effectiveness of universities, a unified system for evaluating school graduates, have led to the fact that the struggle for highly successful applicants has intensified even more over the past decade.

Purpose:
The authors attempted to analyze the competitiveness of the same type of master's education programs in the areas 04.04.01 "Economics" of two universities (university-N and university-M). Both universities were located in the million-plus city. In order to do this, an analysis was conducted on indicators such as programme, price, place, promotion processes, physical activities and people.

Methods:
A SWOT analysis of the competitiveness of educational programs, a secondary analysis of statistical data on the activities of universities, a strategic analysis based on the matrix of the Boston Consulting Group, an analysis of the position of universities in domestic and international ratings, an analysis of the content of regulatory documents of universities, an audit of educational programs, an analysis of qualitative and quantitative indicators of the implementation of educational programs, differential and integrated analysis of the competitiveness of educational programs were made. A survey of graduate students was conducted (n1 = 50, n2 = 35) to identify the following indicators: the degree of satisfaction with the educational program and study conditions at the university, reasons for choosing the educational program of a magistracy and university, ideas about the demand for graduates in the regional labor market.

As a result of benchmarking of master's education programs, sustainable factors of ensuring competitive advantage were revealed that allow University-N to receive prolonged competitive advantages in the educational services market in the direction of master's training. Not only the competitiveness of the educational program, but also the image and reputation of the university, as the subject of educational programs attract consumers of educational services, what gives the master's program additional competitive advantages.

Keywords:

Educational service, university, competitiveness, educational program, master's program, student, labor market.