Abstract:

Over the past two decades, universities in developed countries have experienced profound changes referring to the nature and content of interaction between students and teachers under the influence of transformations in higher education and new information technologies. The general trend is related to the weakening of ties between them. It is being manifested not only on the individual level, but also on the level of communities and groups. The phenomenon of dissociation became visible some time ago due to emergence of new types of higher education institutions – on-line University and «University without teachers» (French and American «College 42»), implementing the technique of peer-to-peer learning. There are no such universities in Russia yet, but there are prerequisites for the implementation of this idea. Besides, certain projects related to the development of these universities have been launched. Meanwhile, in the near future, speaking about the Russian higher education system, universities based on the direct interaction of teachers and students (face to face) will continue to dominate. The problem of dissociation of students and teachers will remain relevant for the universities of this type, and, perhaps, become more intense.

The goal of the article is to identify the reasons for the weakening of relations between teachers and students of the universities, and to identify opportunities for the development of communication between them referring to educational activities and scientific creativity. The object of the study is the students and the teachers of the Ural Federal district (UFD) of Russia. The empirical bases of the article is formed by the results of the sociological research conducted at UFD universities in 2016-2017. The research methods are the analysis of statistics on higher education in the district, a mass survey of students and teachers, expert interviews.

The article shows that the main reasons for the weakening of relations between students and teachers are: inadequate use of new information technologies; non-alternative total substitution traditional types of education by e-learning and distance education; desire of some students to study independently and reduction of educational motivation of others; many students due to their employment outside the University simply lack time; significant increase in the workload of teachers and reduction of time capacity for individual work with students regarding the teachers’ budgetary working time.

The ways of interaction intensification between students and teachers, have been offered, both referring to educational and research process, ways of communication spheres’ expansion between these educational communities. It has also been shown, that the implementation of the proposed methods is possible under the conditions of transition to a non-linear model of higher education, which would stipulate a differentiated approach to different groups of students and teachers.

The practical significance of the study is related to the proposals to optimize interaction of teachers and students in order to meet interests of both. The results of the study show new resources and opportunities for the development of Russian universities.

Keywords:

Students, teachers, university, higher education, interaction of educational communities, weakening of relations.