Purpose The purpose of this paper is to substantiate the basic role and to develop recommendations for increasing the attractiveness of a regional market of educational services in modern Russia for provision of its global competitiveness in the conditions of industry 4.0. Design/methodology/approach The authors use the method of regression analysis for evaluating the influence of the indicators of investment attractiveness of a regional market of educational services – volume of investments into fixed capital in the sphere of education and state expenditures for financing of education – on the indicator of global competitiveness of this market in the conditions of industry 4.0 – number of foreign students – by the example of regions of the Volga Federal District of the Russian Federation. The empirical basis of the research is statistical materials of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation for late 2018 and early 2019. Findings It is proved that investment attractiveness of a regional market of educational services is the basis of its global competitiveness in the conditions of industry 4.0. A barrier on the path of full-scale digital modernization of the system of higher education in modern Russia is the absence of private venture investments, which shows low investment attractiveness of a regional market of educational services. Originality/value It is substantiated that the causes of emergence of the determined barriers have the institutional nature and could be eliminated with the help of the complex of the recommended measures that are connected to usage of the mechanism of public–private partnership for financing of digital modernization education, flexible regulation of investment activities of digital universities, which is selected for each specific project, and coordination of the investment activities of universities at the regional level and creation of a specialized digital portal. Practical implementation of the offered measures will allow achieving significant growth of global competitiveness of a regional market of educational services of modern Russia in the conditions of industry 4.0.