2016 witnessed the first stage of implementing development program of pillar universities of the first wave of competition selection. The article presents a short description of the program, pillar university models and quality analysis of the results of program development implementation results in 2016 based on monitoring results. Conducted analysis allows for concluding that besides performing plans in terms of efficacy indicators and road map implementation, pillar universities in 2016 obtained real results in the field of changing their position in the region and forming proactive position in facilitating social and economic development of relevant Russian Federation regions. This allowed pillar universities for initiating processes of...