The modern life makes demands to the quality of education which are different from requirements of the previous epoch. One of the reasons for that is that the life in society becomes more and more difficult, along with both scientific and social environments becoming more complex. Therefore, an interaction between the elements of such an environment also becomes more and more difficult. In these conditions of increasing complexity the individuals needs to have a confidence that the education they received will be adequate to promote their social realisation and a career success. In such a case, it is the task of education to expand possibilities for socialisation and creative realisation of an individual. But the society also should have guarantees that a person is capable to handle and address social problems which a changing social reality nowadays poses. An introduction of certain standards in education with a view of maintenance of these guarantees to which all components of educational process should answer was required. The paper argues that these standards characterise the quality of educational process in general. It is recognised that the guaranteed quality of education influences the quality of professional work of the graduates in various areas of economic activities. It is especially important in Russia as it promotes the improvement of the quality of life of Russian citizens. The paper discuss how with the competition increase on a labour market citizens were forced to aspire better education for construction of successful career in society. In Russia as part of the National Development Plan 2006-2010 a state control measures, such as “Development of quality control system services”, were introduced with the aim to organise all-round complex approach to the monitoring of the educational processes. This monitoring system of quality becomes stimulus for educational institutions for maintenance of necessary educational level and improvement of quality of educational programs. Apart from that the new approaches to influence the quality of vocational education in the Russian society were also formed. The paper will highlight these approaches and the effectiveness of their integration and the quality monitoring. It then highlights the process of how higher vocational education and training institutions themselves began to show interest towards the introduction of an external system of quality control which was imposed by the agencies of accreditation of socially-professional associations, also from the employers, the Board of Education in Rusian, foreign competition, which raised their competitiveness in the market of educational services. Continuous monitoring of the quality of education in Russia, as such, were defined by a number of factors: the Bologna process, the increasing competitiveness of intellectual resources in Russia and maintenance of the quality of educational services at the level of the world standards. It is dictated by necessity of full participation of Russia in the global economy as well as by the creation an innovative economy for the 21st century.

Extensive literature review both on educational research carried out in Russia and elsewhere in relation to quality assurance and monitoring systems and processes.

The results of the review can be beneficial for improvement of policies on quality assurance and monitoring of quality of educational processes and will help to form a continuous coordinated process. The review will increase understanding in how professional standards, education quality assessment and appraisal of third level institutions impact on the reorganisation of courses in third level institutions