Abstract:

Innovation is a part of university functioning. Modern universities are centers of science and innovative forms of enterprises’ development. Universities may become bastions of country’s innovative development, if the staff is ready for innovative activities. However, in practice University teachers and sociologists point out different attitudes of academic staff to innovations. The contradiction between compulsory professors’ competence to participate in innovation and lack of their readiness to take part in this kind of activity aggravated. The article aims to find out how personal resources influence academic staff participation in innovative activities and whether it is possible to improve the state of these resources by means of lifelong learning and personal development.

The undertaken research solves the tasks:
(1) to identify the essence and state of academic staff readiness to innovative activities;
(2) to identify the criteria for innovative activeness of academic staff;
(3) to find out which personal resources or states favor or impede the participation of academic staff representatives in innovative activities;
(4) to determine the relation between academic staff personal resources and innovations at university;
(5) to develop educational measures that can improve the state of human resources of universities.

To identify the essence and state of the academic staff readiness to innovative activity the study of the theoretical scientific background was undertaken. Then we revealed a range of different attitudes of university teachers to innovative activity, using surveys and method of expert assessments. As a result the academic staff was differentiated and compared according to both criteria: readiness to innovation and preferences in educational and scientific activities.

We studied the range of resources necessary for innovation and determined the state of personal resources of the respondents (n = 148) using surveys and document analysis. Range of their states was developed, described and analyzed. We found the most important qualities of personal resources that can become advantages or obstacles in innovative activities. On the bases of theoretical knowledge, of expert assessments, of results analysis, and using theoretical conclusions we determined the relations between academic staff personal resources’ (and its different types’) development and professors innovation activities that lead to diffusion of innovations at university.

The research showed that some aspects of university professors’ personal resources,that influence innovative activities, may be corrected. Moreover, innovative activities have impact on the personal resources development. It gave a push to the development of a range of education programs at Lifelong Institute of South Ural State University (National Research University), combined while delivering with involving university teachers into innovations, for personal resources’ development of the academic staff.

Keywords:

Academic staff, innovative activities, personal resources, readiness, relationship.