Higher education in Russia is going through a period of large-scale transformation. The new tasks confronting higher education require changes in the administration of this vital link in education. What is the degree of readiness of college and university systems of administration to deal with the transition to the new final outcomes that correspond to current challenges? The purpose of this empirical study was to assess this readiness, based on the example of a typical regional institution of higher learning. To single out the object of the study, a survey of first-year students (a total of 600) and final-year students (600) in five higher educational institutions of Vologda oblast was conducted. The results obtained made it possible to single out seven problem situations of practical importance. The second part of the study consisted of two substages. In the first substage, an expert appraisal was made of the seven problem situations. In the second substage, the members of the personified agent of administration of the regional institution were acquainted individually with the entire aggregate set of the data obtained in the preceding stages of the study, and expressed their own position in regard to legitimate situations. The social communicative potential of the agent of administration was measured by means of two main characteristics: (1) the level of the agency of the institution; and (2) the potential of social mobilization. The results of the empirical study that was carried out in the typical regional institution of higher learning make it possible to come to a number of conclusions. The personified agent of administration possesses a sufficiently "high level of agency". At the same time, the "potential of mobilization is low." The data obtained confirmed the author's hypothesis, which consisted of the idea that the system of administration of a higher educational institution is able to carry out its transition to the innovative final outcomes of operation only if it possesses an adequate level of social communicative potential. (Contains 4 notes.)