Abstract:

Introduction:
The decline in the general level of educational success of students is an urgent and complex problem for the Russian higher education system. During the study, the task was set to identify the relationship between the educational success of students at Russian universities and the level of their confidence in the higher education institution. As a result of the study, the typology of students was carried out according to their level of trust in higher education and the features of their educational strategies.

Research Methods:
Authors developed a methodology for measuring student confidence in the institutional norms that regulate the functioning of higher education. It comprises a set of indicators that recorded the attitude of students to educational policy at the federal and local level (the level of the university). Students’ confidence in institutional norms was described in three aspects: emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. The results of a mass survey of university students in Yekaterinburg (early 2020) are the empirical basis of the study. A quota sample was implemented. Quotas were formed according to areas, training levels of students and types of universities. Sample size of students - 368 people.

Results:
Students were empirically divided in clusters according to the nature and level of trust in the institutional norms of higher education. The first cluster (39%) is characterized by a relatively low level, while the second (61%) is characterized by a relatively high level of student confidence in institutional norms. The students of the first cluster do not trust the university, they believe that the educational process does not correspond to humanistic values, modern methods, and does not provide predictability of the future result.

Students from both clusters, are close to each other by demographic, ideological characteristics, and the level of pre-university training, but they have different educational strategies. The first cluster students are less satisfied with their studies, they have reduced educational motivation and the low level of success in educational activities. They are less satisfied with their professional choice, and do not trust themselves as future professionals, they are not ready to work in their specialty after graduation. Their communication strategies are less effective. They do not feel support from teachers and university administrators, and interact less with them, do not feel as a part of the university community. After graduating from the university, they do not see the prospects for further ties with the teachers and fellow students.

Conclusions:
The revealed connection between educational success and the level of trust of the student community indicates the need to consider the culture of student trust as one of the conditions for increasing their adaptability to educational activities at the university and the process of professional development. It is advisable to formulate a managerial task of forming a culture of student confidence as a factor in increasing the efficiency of the university.

Keywords:

Trust, institutional trust, social institution, institutional norms, institution of higher education, students as a social community.