Introduction

The higher education system is currently undergoing a great change. Therefore, there are objective reasons for carrying out reforms not only in the educational process, but also in organizing the management process [Vusovich, O.V., 2017]. The organization of business processes with the help of a lean manufacturing system can contribute to the efficient functioning of the divisions. [Popova E.O., 2018]. Lack of funding is the main problem of education. The lack of necessary financial resources is often the main reason for the lack of new educational technologies, modern equipment, etc. In 2013, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, D. Medvedev expressed confidence in the appropriateness of applying lean technologies in public administration, ‘increasing the efficiency of public administration should be achieved through the use of new management technologies, as it is happening all over the world nowadays. Many of them including project management and performance management and the so-called lean-technology came from the business and have been successfully applied’ [Rabanes, P., 2013]. Now synonymous expressions ‘lean technology’, ‘lean manufacturing’, ‘lean production’ are commonly used [Vaganova O.V., 2018].

At the same time, it should be noted that the explication of the term ‘lean’ according to the Russian Explanatory Dictionary by V. Dal means ‘... careful management, moderation, restriction in consumption, prudence in costs and expenses ...’ and further Dal gives the proverb ‘Take care of half the salvation who cares, since you save the dispute of the profits ...‘ [The Explanatory dictionary of Russian words, Dal V., 2018]. Lean management is a factor of the best work for those who use it. Therefore, in difficult economic conditions, lean production technologies are able to bring organizations to a new level of activity and efficiency.

Discussion

 The conceptual and methodological novelty of the idea of implementing lean technologies in educational organizations is connected with the recognition of the ability of the education system to improve not only through external funding (funds from commercial and non-profit organizations for personnel training, charitable and foreign sources, etc.), but also use of internal reserves (payment for tuition and accommodation, printing services, rental of property or space, etc.).

There is a theoretical possibility to adapt educational institutions to the system of lean manufacturing with the help of instruments aimed at determining internal reserves, eliminating and preventing certain types of losses. The use of lean technologies in the educational organization system is possible in the following areas:

1. Development of a modern integrated concept of lean manufacturing in education.

2. Development of measures for the formation of educational infrastructure, technology for the involvement of students in the educational process, the regional system of training and advanced training of personnel, a system of personnel incentives for the use of lean technologies.

3. Formation of a sustainable model of lean behavior of the population on the basis of popularization of the culture of ‘lean’ among students and the initiation of the processes of self-organization of society in the region for a lean attitude.

4. Development of the information educational space. Selection of parameters for building a lean educational stream in a higher educational institution.

5. Introduction of a synergistic approach to the management of lean technologies using interrelated, complementary and mutually reinforcing instruments and methods that make up a unified system of a lean educational organization.

But this will require solving a number of tasks:

1. Organization of workplaces of lecturers, heads of structural divisions, support staff (standardization, sorting documentation, discipline, control in the activities of the department).

2. Organization of vocational guidance work based on a pull-out approach (analysis of stakeholders, reduction of losses for the training of unclaimed specialists, improvement of the image of the university).

3. Optimization of the value stream in the educational process, improving the material and technical base, attracting third-party investments, expanding the range of produced training areas.

4. Organization of undergraduate practice of students, which allows the trainee to develop recommendations aimed at solving problems using certain principles of lean manufacturing (mapping of the production and management process).

5. Adding the discipline ‘Modern technologies of lean manufacturing’ to the curriculum of ‘Financial Engineering’ ‘Corporate Finance’ Master's programmes.

6. Professional development of the teaching staff (courses based on lean manufacturing).

7. Updating the subjects of diploma and term papers, taking into account the relevance of the study of lean manufacturing.

8. Conducting researches on current areas of lean manufacturing. Organization of interuniversity seminars, attracting representatives of the business incubator, the Fund for Supporting Entrepreneurs. Integration of science and production, generating ideas.

9. Formation of a unified information technology educational space.

10. Development of integrated indicators and criteria for assessing the improvement of the quality of education in the implementation of lean manufacturing technologies, selection of control measures, monitoring of results.

It should also be noted that learning is a process during which the learner gains knowledge and skills. The main problem of learning how to produce is the difficulty of estimating the return on investment [Vasiliev, V.L., 2015].

All processes could be divided into main, auxiliary and management processes in educational institutions [The quality manual of TSU, 2018]. In the educational process and in the management of university divisions, some actions have no added value; therefore, in the methodology of lean manufacturing, such actions are called losses.

Table 1

Characteristic of losses which need to be eliminated for increase in efficiency of activity of structural divisions of higher education institution

Based on [Popova E.O., 2018]

The study of losses at the university identifies eight types of losses that should be addressed to improve the effectiveness of the structural divisions of the university (table 1).

We do not agree with naming such type of loss as ‘excess reserves’. Most likely, we can talk about ‘excessive educational services’, in which a large and diverse choice of specialties is expected, and not the focus of the university on a specific direction, for example, agricultural or technological.

In addition, the ‘5S’ System is one of the most popular and easy-to-implement methods (fig. 1). This method is aimed at organizing an effective workplace. The name of the method is directly related to its steps. [Popova E.O., 2018].

Figure 1. Structure of functioning of the «5S» method

Составлено по материалам Попова Е.О., 2018 / Based on the materials by E.O. Popova, 2018

Step 1 − Sort. Employees need to understand what is really needed at their workplace, and what should be discarded. However, no need to throw out all things at once, some of them need to be sent to quarantine. Quarantine in lean manufacturing is a box or an allotted space allocated for items not needed at the moment, but which may come in handy later.

Step 2 – Set in order. After the first step, all things must be put in their places.

Step 3 −  Shine. Order of things on the desk must be strictly followed.

Step 4 − Standardize. When arranging files in the cabinet, it is possible to make a mark on each of them, in the form of a number or a diagonal strip, then it becomes clearly visible where its place and it is another method of lean manufacturing called visualization. Then the documentation would have its own standard that should be followed.

Step 5 − Sustain. It is necessary to develop the habit of caring for the workplace and perform continuous work to improve the system [Fabrizio, T., Tapping, D., 2008].

A Kanban board can be used for certain divisions. It is a system for executing orders, showing at what stage each of them is, the number of orders at each stage should not exceed 5. If the number of orders at the stage is exceeded, then it is necessary to analyze why it happened: due to the fact that the orders are too complicated or the staff could not cope with them because of their negligence and take steps to resolve the problem.

The Kanban board may consist of the following columns: task, accepted for execution, executed.

Also, such methods as TPM, KPI and Poka-yoke (‘protection against a fool’) can be used in university divisions. TPM is total equipment maintenance system. Required to check the performance of computers, their software, to maintain the performance of laboratory equipment. The system of ‘protection against a fool’ can be used in educational laboratories, for example, for emergency shutdown of devices or the triggering of protection sensors in a dangerous situation or improper use of equipment by students and staff [Popova E.A., 2018].

The principle of lean education is to minimize losses. It is a complete elimination of costs that will meet the needs of students, employers who are willing to pay for a process that corresponds to the cost of the product.

The organization suffers losses during the training of its employees. This is unprofitable for the employer, since he has to pay for the time spent by employees on training. However, investing in education is the most profitable investment, since in the learning process the cost of an employee increases, which allows you to return the invested funds.

In addition to the above costs, it is also necessary to finance the training of qualified education specialists (lecturers). In the case of the implementation of internal training, funds are directed to the purchase of educational equipment, demonstration samples, films, books, teaching aids and much more. Therefore, reducing costs in the learning process becomes highly important [Nevgod, E.A., 2015].

Identification and analysis of losses at all stages of the educational process are the most important steps towards introducing the concept of lean technology in educational institutions, so today using this instrument and its adaptation to one’s own needs would allow management to achieve its goals faster and with fewer costs [Pribilov, N., Pribylov, S., Makhova, O., Barbashina, T., 2018].

Therefore, the relevance of the objective is confirmed not only by the results achieved when using lean technologies in higher education, but also by the willingness of the management, staff and students to adopt new management concepts [Aglieva, V.F., 2015]. Using the principles of lean manufacturing in the educational process would help to bring it to a higher level based on the established criteria for the quality of graduates of higher educational institutions, designing concepts for selecting timely information and shaping managerial influences through a feedback chain. However, it should be remembered that it is impossible to replace the methods of lean manufacturing with the modernization of the higher education system and its formation based on modern, scientific and educational technologies. The development of the national education system should go along with an increase in the scientific level and rational management of the educational process based on lean practices.

As it was noted at the first Russian Forum of Lean Technologies at Belgorod State National Research University held on November 28, 2019, whether lean technologies would help or not directly depends on the down, middle and top managers. ‘... There is no big problem to orient the manager to lean production, and then what? Now it is extremely important to introduce them into the budget sphere, and our main task is customer focus. There are three basics. The first is the time savings of the people we serve. The second is the provision of quality services. The third is to accompany services with a good emotional atmosphere ... And then it all depends on the manager’s ability to create a creative atmosphere in the team, to emancipate the initiative of all employees, to motivate them to change too, because you can only change in a free and creative atmosphere ...’ [Savchenko, E.S., 2018].

Conclusion

Thus, a comprehensive aspect is needed in the assessment and application of lean production standards, which would create a flexible concept aimed at creating values for the consumer, reducing various costs, continuously improving many activities at all levels of educational organization, improving staff skills and improving the quality of practical training and oriented training to satisfy consumers.