Formation of competitive strategies for teachers of Russian universities in the context of digitalization of education

During the modernization of the higher education system, the problem of increasing the competitiveness of university teachers is being actualized, within which a special place is occupied by the development of digital skills by each teacher interested in forming a successful professional strategy.

The subject of the study is the competitive strategies of Russian university teachers implemented in the context of digitalization of education. The purpose of the work is to assess the impact of digitalization on the professional activities of university teachers and highlight the main competitive strategies of teachers to improve their digital competence. The empirical basis of the study is based on data from sociological surveys of university teachers on the problems of digitalization of the educational process conducted within the framework of the HSE project “Monitoring the Economics of Education”.

The study revealed that the mechanism of accelerated digitalization of higher education, launched during the coronavirus pandemic, is currently being actively implemented in various formats, and one of the main factors of successful digitalization of universities is ensuring the professional competence of teachers. Depending on the level and quality of the formed digital competencies, as well as the degree of involvement in the digitalization process, three main competitive strategies of teachers are identified: basic, advanced and specialized. It is shown that the main obstacle to the successful implementation of competitive strategies in the field of digitalization is the lack of effective mechanisms in universities for organizing and stimulating the activities of teachers in the development of digital technologies. It is concluded that it is necessary to develop and implement management mechanisms to ensure a high level of digital competitiveness of teachers and increase their involvement in the process of changes taking place in higher education at the present stage.

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