General tendencies of higher education in the modern social-cultural conditions

The issues of higher education trends and quality are not new. Our article is trying to understand why these trends have appeared and what they bring, how educational managers, scientists, and lecturers support higher education reforms, and how it helps to select models of the education system by different universities. The topical issues of higher education are on the agenda of modern society. Today, we have entered into the period of the international movement: a single educational space with equal participation of members from different countries is being formed. Such integrated education is characterized by continuous reforms, renewals, context reviewing, as well as the priority of theoretical foundations, appearance of new criteria for educational programs, definition of new values within the traditional education and new qualitative characteristics describing both the educational process itself and its obtained results. All these processes lead, finally, to selection of a proper model of the higher education system. Should the higher education vector be shifted either to rational pragmatism or conceptual irrationality? This question has roots in the dual nature of the essence of education. On the one hand, the priorities of rational pragmatism means that only such things are matter that give practically useful results. The truth within pragmatic approach is interpreted not as a reflection of the objective reality, but as a utilitarian component, satisfying particular interests of each university. On the other hand, the conceptual views on education are close to the question about the sources of meaning generation. "The flow of consciousness" is formed by cognitive efforts during solution of practical tasks put forward before higher education. There are two poles of education: the first is aimed at pragmatic goals and the second support personal self-realization, and these poles must be in equilibrium. Here, we can talk about philosophical contradiction of rational and irrational in their unity. The principle of polarity reject the position "eitheror", when an alternative is absent, but use the “and” approach. Existing alternatives help to understand problems, because not the truth lies between the two extremes, but the namely existing problem does. And this is the path to problem solution.