After the collapse of Soviet Union Soviet education system also began its disintegration. In the 1990-s, the country's leadership failed to complete the formation of a new system. Today in our country there is another wave of transformations in the field of education system development. Among state officials and specialists, there is controversy over the ways and directions of reform. The development of education system is very important today. The entry of the last BRICS summit proclaimed the idea of a new industrial revo-lution. In these conditions a new round of modernization of society largely depends on the development of education. Again, as always, a change in the system does not occur from within the system, but from above. The state acts as a vehicle for change. In this situation it is more important than ever to take into account the experience of the previous stages of reform. In the XVIII century in Russia both the modernization of society and the formation of national educational system took place. With the reforms of Peter I, in fact, began the first stage of our state modernization. Westernization, the creation of the fleet, a regular army, the development of mining and manu-factories-all these required a great number of educated people. In the era of Peter I the base for the education system was created. During the era of pal-ace coups, the pace of its development slows down, and closed, inclusive class nature of educational system starts amplifying. The foundation of Moscow University by Elizabeth Petrovna became the most important stage of the higher education development. In the reign of Catherine II the design of primary education system was completed and the beginning of female education was laid. In general, the XVIII century can be considered to be the beginning of Russian education.