Generational Communities in Higher Education: Selection Criteria, Self-Identification and Role in the Stability of the University

Solving the problems of modern Russian higher education requires the search for new methodological approaches. Such an approach can be a generational approach. One of the key issues of applying this approach in the sociology of higher education, which has not been adequately reflected in scientific literature, is the search and justification of criteria and generational boundaries of the university community.

The scientific novelty of the research consists in an attempt to study the ideas of the employees of modern Russian universities about the criteria and boundaries of generations of university communities. For the first time, a qualitative empirical study (interview) of university employees in the Ural Federal District (n=41) was conducted. It allowed us to record a wide range of quantitative (age, work experience) and qualitative (the education system in which the employee was formed; the historical period of the employee’s inclusion in the higher education system; position as a stage of mastering the content of work; attitude to digital technologies and the degree of mastery of them; initiative / knowledge and experience; flexibility and adaptability to changing external conditions, etc.) criteria for differentiating the university community. The mechanisms of self-identification of university employees with a specific generation have been identified. It has been established that the foundation that gives stability to the university is the middle generation.

The article contributes to the ongoing discussion about the generational structure of the university community by offering empirical evidence substantiating the relevance and prospects of using the generational approach in higher education. The results of the study make it possible to expand the theoretical understanding of the processes that take place in Russian higher education and to develop practical recommendations for the development of a meaningful and differentiated age policy at universities.

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