Regional differentiation of higher education in Russian regions in 2020

The aim of this study was to evaluate the specific values of the indices that describe the spread of higher education institutions in all regions of Russia and the number of their students in the total working-age population living in these regions. The initial empirical data were the results of official statistical surveys conducted on information on the development of higher education, as well as the number of working-age population in eighty-two regions of the Russian Federation for 2020. In the course of the research, four mathematical models were developed. The study showed that on average, there are almost 14.8 higher education organizations per million working-age residents in the regions. It is proved that every twenty-fourth person of working age in 2020 studied under higher education programs. The conducted analysis showed the presence of a significant differentiation of the values of the considered indicators by region. The regions with the maximum and minimum values of the considered indicators were identified. It is shown that higher education has received significant development in Russia.