The dissertation is devoted to the study of theoretical and methodological bases of state regulation of higher education institutions on the basis of licensing as one of the administrative tools of the state regulatory mechanism of economic activity, aimed at ensuring the quality of higher education that meets standards and recommendations for higher education in the EU and protects consumer rights. The necessity of improving the mechanism of licensing of educational activity as a factor of social security increase, improvement of education quality, increase of citizens’ education level is investigated and substantiated. The essence of the concept of “licensing of educational activities of higher education institutions” is clarified, which is defined as the purposeful influence of the state on business entities through a system of restrictions and minimum requirements to ensure proper quality of educational services according to higher education standards and comprehensive consideration of national security aspects in the education system. The economic and legal bases of the licensing process are analyzed. Taking into account the European and world experience, a set of measures is proposed to improve the licensing of educational activities. The priority areas of the state regulation of this type of economic activity in Ukraine are identified, which allows forming a reliable market of educational services; improving the quality of national education; ensuring integration of the licensing system, the quality assurance system of higher education and information security system. Based on the analysis of socio-economic indicators within higher education and indicators of licensing the educational activities, regularities and fields of knowledge with the highest and lowest demand for licensing are identified, the results of recent enrollment campaigns are compared, and their relationships are identified. It is concluded that there is an impact of changes in the regulatory framework on the licensing. The uneven distribution of the obtained licenses by fields of knowledge and fields of study as well as a direct connection of these indicators with the results of the enrollment campaigns are revealed. The paper analyzes the activities of a number of institutions participating in the process of state regulation in higher education and the licensing process in Ukraine, explores their functions and powers, revealing the content of the functions of licensing in education. The improved tools of stakeholders’ interest analysis enabled to identify all participants in the process, determine the functional role of each and their impact on licensing. The proposed areas for improving the process of licensing the educational activities aim at improving the quality of the educational process based on student-centred learning and quality assurance in higher education. Socio-economic results of licensing the educational activities in higher education are analysed. The institutional mechanism of managerial decision making about launching educational activities in a new field of study (educational program) and ways to improve the organizational structure are proposed to form an objective information and analytical base on the market of educational services, labour market, external stakeholders, as well as make sound managerial decisions and adopt a further development strategy. The organizational structure and functions of the proposed department are developed; four possible costs scenarios for the functioning of the department are assessed. Having done the relevant economic calculations, the optimal functioning scenario is chosen. Economic and mathematical modelling of the relationships between the number of applicants to a higher education institution on the terms of full reimbursement of tuition fees and a number of affecting factors is conducted. This allowed determining the importance of factors and further forecasting the activities of higher education institutions in order to develop programs of strategic and operational development. Socio-economic efficiency indicators of the offered measures are studied, the fundamental principles are formulated and a new organizational and economic mechanism is created to improve the licensing activity based on the introduction of information systems, databases, increase of safety indicators, disclosure of individual creativity, application of the project approach and formation of innovative educational clusters, implementation of the principles of student-centred learning, which allows forming a reliable market of educational services to meet the needs of local communities, external and internal stakeholders, improving the quality of national education, and promoting investment in education.
