Abstract: This article is dedicated to the development of e-commerce in the Russian Federation. The relevance of this topic is substantiated by the growth rates of this segment of commerce. The goal lies in analysis of the prospects for the development of e-commerce, taking into account the potential opportunities and challenges for the consumers, retail businesses and national economy overall. The subject of this research is the process of development of the e-commerce market. The research employs institutional approach, which implies consideration of a wide range of noneconomic factors (social, scientific-technical, technological, etc.) in the theoretical analysis of the evolution of e-commerce. The information base contains the data from the Association of E-Commerce Companies, National Association of Mail Order and Distance Selling Trade, and the works of Russian and foreign scholars. The author offers a hierarchy of concepts: e-business, e-commerce, and online trade. Tracing the history of evolution of the forms of commerce proves that e-commerce is a type of distance trading. The proposed by the author stages of development of distance trading reveals the historical peaks of its development, including separation of e-commerce. The results of analysis of e-commerce market led to the following conclusions: 1) e-commerce is one of the dynamically developing sectors of the economy, which generates new job opportunities and tax revenues; 2) the key prerequisites for the active development of e-commerce market consist in processes of digitalization and globalization of the economy; 3) the COVID-19 pandemic became a catalyst for the development of e-commerce. The development of e-commerce creates a range of opportunities and risks for all parties involved: the state, business entities, and consumers. The opportunities and risks outlined by the author may contribute to elaboration of measures aimed at utilization of opportunities and mitigation of risk caused by the development of e-commerce, which would determine its development prospects.

Abstract: The goal of this article lies in proving a hypothesis that the methodology of QS World University Rankings and monitoring of the efficiency of Russian universities are based on the uniform principles and indicators that define the single vector of development. The object of this research is the Russian universities participating in the QS World University Rankings. The subject is the comparison of ranking positions of the Russian universities built on the methodology of the QS World University Rankings and monitoring of the efficiency of Russian universities. The author suggests the ranking method of the universities using sum of the rankings method, as well as conducts correlational analysis of rank positions of the universities. The following conclusions were made: 1) global academic rankings of world universities is the tool for estimating their competitive capacity; 2) university ranking in accordance with the QS methods and monitoring of the efficiency of Russian universities are based on the uniform principles and single-vector indicators; 3) Russia is the leader among EAEU member-states in the QS World University Rankings.