Impact of network interaction on the quality of higher education in CIS countries

Our study's objective is to define network interaction opportunities for increasing the quality of higher education and the social capital rise of educational process participants in Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, considering the increasing role of ICT. We conducted an in-depth study of the CIS Network University and defined the opportunities and challenges of network interaction for each actor of the educational process (students, professors, departments, and universities). We focused attention on the impact of network interaction on the social capital of students and professors. It is shown that the forced accelerated digitalisation of the educational process caused by COVID-19 more prominently demonstrated the benefits and challenges of network interaction. Digitalisation reduces barriers to participation in the networked educational process for both the student and the professor. On the other hand, the digital divide between the CIS countries does not allow obtaining these advantages and complicates raising higher education quality via network interaction.