Abstract:

New models of university management influence the transformation of the academic communities. Academic managerialism, established in Russian universities, has created an organizational and institutional context for the fragmentation of university communities. Instead of the cohesion and integration necessary to solve the new strategic tasks of university development, segmentation and polarization have emerged. The fragmentation of the university communities is a challenge to Russian higher education, because it deprives universities of important intangible resources – intragroup trust, solidarity, reciprocity.

The aim of the paper is to substantiate the signs of fragmentation of the academic communities in Russian universities in the conditions of academic managerialism.

Research questions presented in the paper are:
1. The concept of the university community fragmentation.
2. Perception of fragmentation by representatives of university communities.
3. The relationship between the fragmentation of the university community and the establishment of a new model of university management.

The first question is based on a theoretical analysis of the philosophical and sociological conceptions of fragmentation, as well as research on the academic profession. The second and third questions are revealed using the empirical data of study (2020-2021, universities of the Sverdlovsk region of the Russian Federation). The main method was an in-depth interview with scientific and pedagogical staff of universities (n=20). Additionally, the author used the method of secondary analysis of research data on university management and the academic communities in Russian universities.

Results:
1. The author interprets the fragmentation of the university community as a special form of its social differentiation, in which it splits into several isolated groups that are closed to intensive interaction and integration. It is proposed to consider the fundamental absence of a common identity, common professional goals and events, the agenda of daily activities, the ability to unite to protect their interests as signs of fragmentation. The paper also reveals other signs of fragmentation of the university community.
2. The article contains the results of an empirical study of the perception of fragmentation by representatives of university communities. The author showed that the signs of fragmentation are noted by all representatives of the academic profession. But some groups are clearly aware of this process and feel its destructive influence in their professional activities. Other groups articulate individual manifestations of fragmentation and consider them as consequences of the individual behavior of some colleagues. The mythologeme about the fundamental unity and solidarity of the university community, which was established in the Soviet period of history, still lives in their minds.
3. The study made it possible to reveal a relationship between the fragmentation of the university community and academic managerialism. The interviews showed that the fragmentation of the university community in Russian universities is not only a spontaneous process that develops under the influence of changes in higher education. It is also a process "conducted" by the new university management. The paper reveals the goals that university management pursues in this process, as well as management tools for fragmentation of the university community.

Keywords:

University management, academic managerialism, fragmentation, university community, higher education.