At its present stage of internationalization of education, its architecture and forms have changed. The study of these aspects requires an integrated approach. Increasing the volume of exports of educational services remains a priority for Russia, which, according to the authors, does not realize its educational export potential sufficiently. The purpose of the article is to reveal the features of the current stage of internationalization of higher education through the compilation of its complex characteristics by a set of cross-sections, to interpret the calculations obtained in a new way, to identify new facts and factors affecting the development trend and to develop proposals for Russia as an exporter of educational services. The main sources used were the statistical databases of the WTO, the EEC of the EAEU. Analytical approach, comparative and statistical analysis were used. As a result, the authors found confirmation of the continuing trend of growth in global spending on education, the volume of investments in the global market of educational services, an increase in the number of foreign students, and the preservation of Russia's share in the number of foreign students. The authors also identified new characteristics of the global educational services market, such as: the acceleration of the growth rate of global exports of educational services, the decline in the share of the United States and the growth of the share of the UAE in the global educational services market, the transformation of Asian countries from donors to recipient countries of educational services.