Reproduction of Engineering Personnel for Innovative Economy: an Experience of Comparative Analysis

— The inclusion of domestic technical universities in the international educational space (joining the Bologna process, participating in international University rankings, developing the academic mobility system) necessarily requires the implementation of comparative research projects, the formation and implementation of tools for comparability of organizational models and practices of self-determination of Russian and foreign universities concerning those institutional innovations that are associated with Industry 4.0. One of these projects, supported by the Russian Foundation for basic research, was initiated by a research group of the Ural Federal University. The aim of the study was a comparative study of the practice of introducing modern formats of engineering education in several European and Russian universities to analyze the dynamics of the institutional environment of modern engineering education. A comparative analysis of empirical research data in the practice of introducing new models of engineering education at partner universities made it possible to expand understanding of the specifics of the institutionalization processes of modern practices of training technical specialists for the digital economy, identify possible contradictions, “gaps” in the system of modern engineering education, and formulate proposals on smoothing out the most acute problems.