The article examines the theoretical and methodological foundations underpinning students’ academic
mobility. Comprehensive analysis enabled the authors to group and systematize key types of
academic mobility. Six criteria for this systematization were identified: geographical orientation,
duration of action, the nature of the implementation, the planned outcome, the form of implementation,
and the method of organization. Empirical data of network educational programs and
students’ academic mobility within V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University was analysed and
the positive and negative factors of its development were identified. The key issues in the development
of students’ academic mobility were ranked with the help of expert assessment and based on
the method of multidimensional pair scaling. The data enabled the authors to offer priority and
secondary support areas and tools for university’s academic mobility. The research substantiates
the importance and potential effectiveness of the development of students’ academic mobility for
the further integration the Crimean higher education system into the wider Russian Federation and
provides a basis for improving educational policy in the University.