The article deals with the education of the conscience in the development of the personality. It analyses the formation and historical development of the concept, its intellectual-emotional structure, as well as the ways of its functioning in personal behaviour and the main directions of the development of the conscience in the educational processes.

The rapid intellectualization of economic activity in modern conditions actualizes the study of issues of countries’ leadership, achieved with the help of intellectual factors. The article’s purpose is to assess the intellectual leadership of countries based on the performance indicators of intellectual activity. The method of estimation of intellectual leadership is proposed, which provides three levels of evaluation based on the corresponding set of indicators. The three-step evaluation algorithm includes, firstly, the assessment of the intellectual potential of the resource potential, secondly, the consideration of the results of intellectual activity and, thirdly, the final results of economic activity. The second level indicators are the result of intellectual activity, the implementation of intellectual resources and at the same time, they become the basis for further intellectualization. The analysis of the performance indicators of the intellectual activity of the countries of the world made it possible to identify the composition and disposition of the world leaders (the USA is the leader by nine indicators, Japan and Germany are leading by six, South Korea, the United Kingdom, China and France - by 5, Switzerland and Canada - 4 indicators) and showed a high volatility of their ranks.