THE «EDUCATIONAL SERVICE» CATEGORY STUDY: INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH

Abstract

The analysis of the educational services market in the field of higher education and the prospects for its development require the substantiation of the theoretical and methodological foundations of the concept of services in the field of education. A careful examination of the educational services market is preceded by an analysis of the categorical apparatus and approaches to the interpretation of services and theoretical concepts of the development of services as an economic phenomenon. In the study, an interdisciplinary analysis of the features of the service and its specific features was carried out. An analysis of the categorical apparatus was carried out regarding the interpretation of the concept of service and educational service. The study examines the specificity of educational services – services in the field of education. Educational service is defined, on the one hand, as a socially significant category, and on the other, as an economically significant category. An interdisciplinary approach to the study of the category «educational service» contributes to a better understanding of the peculiarities of the activities of educational institutions in the market of educational services, more effective use of their limited resources to better meet the needs of consumers of educational services in the conditions of state regulation of this market. In the structure of the educational service, the authors highlight the main elements that fundamentally distinguish it from other types of services. These elements included a unique scientific and innovative component, the possibility of state regulation, and the possibility of subsidizing service providers and consumers. The special feature of the service in the field of education is defined as the prolongation of its effect – the satisfaction of the needs of the consumer of the educational service does not occur at the time of service provision or immediately after the completion of the service provision process, but after a certain period. Defining and understanding the specifics of services in the field of higher education is a basic stage in the development by universities of an effective model of marketing educational services.