On the Economic Contribution of Specialized Higher Education Institutions to the Development of Monofunctional Cities

This article deals with the social, cultural, and economic contributions of universities to the life of small cities in which they are located. Using a questionnaire, we estimated the direct and indirect contributions of students from two universities of the Public Universities System in the state of Oaxaca (Mexico)—SUNEO (Sistema de Universidades Estatales de Oaxaca): the Technological University of the Mixteca (UTM—La Universidad Tecnológica de la Mixteca) and the University of the Costa Region (UNCOS—la Universidad de la Costa) in the life of two cities, Huajuapan de Leon and Pinotepa Nacional, in which these universities are located. The results obtained make it possible to recommend the use of methodologies for developing a strategy for creating a system of universities in monofunctional cities in Russia. The cases of the establishment of universities in small and medium-sized cities of Russia, as well as the factors that contribute to and impede such diversification of the economy of monofunctional cities in the current conditions of applying digital technologies in education are considered.