YOUNG TEACHERS IN THE CONTEXT OF DIFFERENTIATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN RUSSIA: CO-OPERATION PRACTICES

In Russia, the policy was implemented aimed at improving the positions of the HEls in international academic research. This policy results in differentiation in higher education system. There are higher education institutions primarily oriented either at research, or at teaching. In the paper, it was considered how in higher education macro level differentiation translates on the micro-level. The analysis of professional orientations and strategies of cooperation of young academics who teach and do research in social sciences was made using qualitative methodology. The focus is on how structural positions of young academics in higher education and academic research are reproduced in Russia. Young academics are considered as the major agents of the process of system modernization of higher education and academic research. The analysis of qualitative interviews shows that young academics are localized within the system differently; their positions are not only defined by resource dependencies, but are reinforced by their professional identities and professional development orientations. Young academics who are oriented at professional development cooperate in academic (teaching and research) or non-academic contexts (consulting, education of adults). Their cooperation practices are horizontal or vertical. However, as the academics and their institutions are positioned differently within the system of higher education, inequalities among academics are reproduced in cooperation. Young academics from regional higher education institutions are more likely to cooperate in non-academic contexts, and this makes them especially vulnerable in the higher education system which is increasingly oriented at research productivity increase.