The article explores human capital management in modern society as a global phenomenon associated with the transition to a new economic order called Industry 4.0. The authors reveal the issues of organizing the educational process and the implementation of remote technologies in the Russian Federation, as well as consider new challenges faced by the national education system at all levels in the context of the pandemic. The article also assesses the prospects for further development of the education system in the context of digitalization and the transition to Industry 4.0, as well as positive and negative trends that are laid in the new changed conditions of the educational process organization. The authors raise the issue of human capital quality formation through the use of distance learning technologies.