The theme of social changes is an important branch of sociology. Changes, which radically transform the essence of a social institution and its organizations, are called transformations. In accordance with T. G. Cummings and C. G. Worley typology, organizational transformations include fundamental changes and reorientation. Innovation is a stage of transformation of the social institution of higher education. It provides participants of the educational process with some additional effect by means of creative conversion of scientific research and achievements into new educational products, goods and services. Development of innovational educational programs exemplifies innovation as one of the key stages of transformation of the social institution of higher education. Within the framework of a scheme-analysis the following elements of the given innovation are introduced: the innovation itself; creators of the innovation; disseminators of the innovation; recipients of the innovation; causes which provoked necessity of development and implementation of the innovation; transition of institutional spheres. The scheme-analysis helped to identify characteristic dynamics in transformation of the teaching and learning process of the social institution of higher education in the contemporary Russian society.