One More Time about the Age of Teachers in Russian Universities: Old Problems and New Trends

The paper presents results of analyzing age structure of Russian state universities teaching staff and its dynamics in the post-Soviet period. It is shown that due to the rapid decline after 2010 in the proportion of young people under 30 years of age and increasing share of population over 65 years...

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Main Author: V. F. Pugach
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Moscow Polytechnic University 2023-03-01
Series:Высшее образование в России
Subjects:
Online Access:https://vovr.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/4270
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author V. F. Pugach
author_facet V. F. Pugach
author_sort V. F. Pugach
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description The paper presents results of analyzing age structure of Russian state universities teaching staff and its dynamics in the post-Soviet period. It is shown that due to the rapid decline after 2010 in the proportion of young people under 30 years of age and increasing share of population over 65 years of age, the imbalance is growing in favor of older people. Comparing average age of university professors and that of the employed population in dynamics shows some exceedance of the former. At the same time, for more than two decades their ratio stayed constant – the average age of teachers was 20 percent or about 8 years more than that of the employed population, which is caused, among other things, by a longer-term professional training. Analyzing age structure for various positions reveals its overall balance, with professors being the oldest in terms of average age, and assistants being the youngest.The study found significant changes of a position structure, affecting primarily professors, whose share has increased several times, as well as assistants and teachers, who occupy two lower positions in the teaching staff. Their share has decreased even more. Insight into teaching staff age structure and osition structure in Russian universities shows that changes in age characteristic, especially shrinking young people population, are associated with job positions, especially with almost complete disappearance of the teaching staff on assistant and lecturer positions. A teaching staff distribution by position also shows that more than three-quarters of the total staff have positions no higher than associate professor. It means this position is actually a “glass ceiling” for teachers in Russian higher education. This fact and almost complete lack of assistants and lecturers result in a two-stage career ladder (senior lecturer – associate professor) for the vast majority of teaching staff in Russian universities, which will inevitably have a negative impact on the level of his qualifications.
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spelling doaj.art-59e93eac92ee46a4a5032393299d6ba82024-04-08T12:12:12ZengMoscow Polytechnic UniversityВысшее образование в России0869-36172072-04592023-03-0132311813310.31992/0869-3617-2023-32-3-118-1332366One More Time about the Age of Teachers in Russian Universities: Old Problems and New TrendsV. F. Pugach0National University of Science and Technology (MISiS)The paper presents results of analyzing age structure of Russian state universities teaching staff and its dynamics in the post-Soviet period. It is shown that due to the rapid decline after 2010 in the proportion of young people under 30 years of age and increasing share of population over 65 years of age, the imbalance is growing in favor of older people. Comparing average age of university professors and that of the employed population in dynamics shows some exceedance of the former. At the same time, for more than two decades their ratio stayed constant – the average age of teachers was 20 percent or about 8 years more than that of the employed population, which is caused, among other things, by a longer-term professional training. Analyzing age structure for various positions reveals its overall balance, with professors being the oldest in terms of average age, and assistants being the youngest.The study found significant changes of a position structure, affecting primarily professors, whose share has increased several times, as well as assistants and teachers, who occupy two lower positions in the teaching staff. Their share has decreased even more. Insight into teaching staff age structure and osition structure in Russian universities shows that changes in age characteristic, especially shrinking young people population, are associated with job positions, especially with almost complete disappearance of the teaching staff on assistant and lecturer positions. A teaching staff distribution by position also shows that more than three-quarters of the total staff have positions no higher than associate professor. It means this position is actually a “glass ceiling” for teachers in Russian higher education. This fact and almost complete lack of assistants and lecturers result in a two-stage career ladder (senior lecturer – associate professor) for the vast majority of teaching staff in Russian universities, which will inevitably have a negative impact on the level of his qualifications.https://vovr.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/4270higher educationteaching staffpositionsage groupsdistribution of teachers by age groupsposition structure“glass ceiling”career ladder of a university teacher
spellingShingle V. F. Pugach
One More Time about the Age of Teachers in Russian Universities: Old Problems and New Trends
Высшее образование в России
higher education
teaching staff
positions
age groups
distribution of teachers by age groups
position structure
“glass ceiling”
career ladder of a university teacher
title One More Time about the Age of Teachers in Russian Universities: Old Problems and New Trends
title_full One More Time about the Age of Teachers in Russian Universities: Old Problems and New Trends
title_fullStr One More Time about the Age of Teachers in Russian Universities: Old Problems and New Trends
title_full_unstemmed One More Time about the Age of Teachers in Russian Universities: Old Problems and New Trends
title_short One More Time about the Age of Teachers in Russian Universities: Old Problems and New Trends
title_sort one more time about the age of teachers in russian universities old problems and new trends
topic higher education
teaching staff
positions
age groups
distribution of teachers by age groups
position structure
“glass ceiling”
career ladder of a university teacher
url https://vovr.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/4270
work_keys_str_mv AT vfpugach onemoretimeabouttheageofteachersinrussianuniversitiesoldproblemsandnewtrends