Russian Historians Studied the Peculiarities of European Higher Education

A team of scientists from Tyumen State University together with their colleagues from Tomsk State University studied the peculiarities of European higher education on the example of the UK and France on the basis of various literary and statistical data. The article was published in the University Management: Practice and Analysis journal. The research was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Russian Science Foundation.

Innovative and entrepreneurial universities are a new stage in the development of modern higher education. Collaboration with the industry and market focus along with free creative research has become their main goal. These changes affect the tutors as well. A study conducted by the historians Alexander Sorokin from Tyumen State University and Mikhail Gribkovsky from Tomsk State University analyzes the main aspects of the work of professors and associates at British and French universities and science centers, including the reasons behind their career choices, advantages and disadvantages of their professions, salary satisfaction, and relations in the team and with management.

"The idea of our research is to understand how higher education transformation models are reflected in the career and work of tutors," says Alexander Sorokin, a co-author of the work and the head of the Department of Russian History at Tyumen State University.

Despite a number of differences, basic development tendencies in the academic sphere of the two countries were quite similar. While previously it was enough to work just as a tutor, today one's research potential has become a priority. The main issues faced by European university associates are increasing bureaucracy and number of requirements, as well as a shift in their relationships with students. Students are no longer perceived as pupils, but rather as customers. According to the respondents, modern tutors are expected to have excellent communication, leadership, and public speaking skills and at the same time carry out research and publish their work. One respondent from the UK said that in order to teach at a university one had to be a superstar. Due to bureaucratic processes tutors and administrative workers become more and more alienated. The former often have to do the assistants' work and fill in numerous documents and reports at the detriment of research activities. Many French tutors also mentioned relatively low salaries.

Among the reasons for choosing a tutor's career the majority of respondents named constant development (UK) and freedom of research. Many mentioned communication with students, flexible working hours, and the ability to change their academic interests among the advantages.

The work evaluates the actual position of tutors in modern universities. It is impossible to have a comprehensive view of the changes happening to higher education without asking the tutors themselves. Any changes affect the people and their professional identities in the first place and then influence the university culture in general.

"The transformation of universities, the new stage of their development will be possible only if the people are engaged and ready to change their research and tutorship habits," concluded Alexander Sorokin.

The issues and advantages of European higher education transformation suggested in the work will help Russian universities develop their own transformation strategies. The work can be used to create additional training programs for Russian tutors. Several critical skills identified in the work (such as scientific communication, positioning and promotion of scientific results) became a basis for the new additional training program for the employees of the Faculty of History at Tomsk State University in 2017-2018 and the research and academic excellence schools of Tyumen State University in 2018-2019.

More information:
undefined undefined et al. ACADEMIC FREEDOMS AND BUREAUCRATIC BONDS OF THE LECTURERS: RESULTS OF FIELD RESEARCH IN BRITISH AND FRENCH UNIVERSITIES, University Management: Practice and Analysis (2019). DOI: 10.15826/umpa.2019.01-2.004

Provided by University of Tyumen