Assessment of the (Non-)Academic Environment in Higher Education

M. V. Niyazova

doi:10.31992/0869-3617-2026-35-7-126-143

Assessment of the (Non-)Academic Environment in Higher Education

M. V. Niyazova

https://doi.org/10.31992/0869-3617-2026-35-7-126-143

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Abstract

Contemporary state policy of Russia in the sphere of higher education orients toward encouraging educational organizations to achieve national interests in scientific and technological development. The measures take an ambiguous and multidirectional impact on the academic environment. This paper presents the results of its assessment. The analysis focuses on three parameters of the academic environment: staff structure, distribution of academic workload, and remuneration. It uses data for 2014-2024 on organizations in the higher education system as a whole, as well as on four groups of universities selected according to their degree of participation in state incentive programs. Based on a comparative analysis, the paper identifies the characteristics and trends in the formation of the academic environment. The results obtain indicate a growing stratification of staff into academic and non-academic workers, accompanied by an extensive increase in the number of the latter and a shift in priorities in the distribution of internal resources in their favor. They show that organizations participating in incentive programs achieve the best results in the individual research productivity of academic staff with a lower academic workload and more decent remuneration compared to other universities. The proposed assessment approach views the organization of higher education as a socio-economic system focused on achieving planned results, including in the field of scientific activity. The operationalization of the academic environment through three parameters makes it possible to assess the conditions and limitations of individual research productivity, as well as to track the dynamics of institutional changes. This makes it possible to identify the directions of its transformation – both those that contribute to the development of research potential and those that indicate its institutional constraints.

Keywords

management, higher education organization, academic environment, quantitative variables, development, research and faculty staff, non-academic staff, individual research productivity

About the Author

M. V. Niyazova

Vladivostok State University
Russian Federation

Marina V. Niyazova – Cand.Sci. (Economics), Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Civil Law Disciplines

Researcher ID: I-9661-2018

Scopus ID: 57205436898

41 Gogolya str., Vladivostok, 690014

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