Digital communication of universities as a resource for place brand management

. The place brand represents a complex of integral unique properties of a particular place in a competitive envi-ronment. The economic effectiveness of place brand management largely depends on the adequate choice of the target audience in both quantitative and qualitative terms. Since the modern city is multicultural, it is necessary to communi-cate effectively with various socio-cultural subsystems for attracting investment. At the turn of the century, there was a tendency to increase mobility and expand migration processes in education. Developing competition requires improving the quality criteria for educational institutions. By now, the world and national ranking systems have already been ap-proved. With the digitalization of society, new rankings have been created, analyzing the digital communication of universities. In 2013, according to Webometrics that uses such indicators as Presence, Impact, Openness, and Excellence, the position of universities in Siberia has surpassed the position of Moscow universities, thus widening the image char-acteristics of Siberia. To study the possibilities of digital communication, we need a comprehensive analysis of the three main aspects (transmission, interaction and interpretation). Along with the brand communications, it is advisable to take into account its identity. For example, the architectural image of Moscow State University was combined with the iden-tity of Moscow, symbolizing the city itself in the logo of the Olympics-80. The mission of universities of the future is focused on online activities and on such projects as Open University 3.0; therefore, it is necessary to analyze the digital communications of modern universities and implement them in place brand management.