University traditions in the context of the introduction of educational innovations: the research case of the University of Tyumen

Abstract

The institution of higher education in Russia is currently involved in the process of cardinal modernization, which affects and reforms its forms and content that have been developing for a considerable time. During this process, the aim and values of education are also transforming: the idea of commitment and of integral personal development are substituted for the concept of service, profit and competitiveness. The novelty of this work is in the study of innovations in the system of higher education through analysis of university as an establishment with historically developed traditions. In this article, for the first time, the ratio of existing traditions and innovations that are being currently introduced is analyzed on the example of a specific university. The purpose of this paper is to examine the traditions of a single university involved in the process of innovative development and to identify how they compare to introduced innovations, as well as in what way the role of university traditions changes in this context. During the research, the authors’ typology of research approaches based on the ideas of M. Rokeach, C. Kluckhohn, and F. Strodtbeck, methodological works of S. H. Schwartz and R. Inglehart was used. The article presents the results of an interuniversity study of the value orientations of the university students and teaching staff, as well as of the transformations of its traditions in connection with the modernization of education in general and the introduction of innovations in particular. In this sense, the case of University of Tyumen is of interest — it is the university that entered the project 5-100 in 2015 and commenced the process of active modernization and the introduction of innovations in its educational process. The article presents the results of in-depth expert interviews with the management and teaching staff of the University of Tyumen (n = 60), as well as the analysis of mass survey data of the students (n = 743). The study revealed the following points: the university focuses on innovative development in its priorities; a demand for a new type of the university and corresponding personality is formed gradually. In the context of the development of the University of Tyumen, it is not only the traditions that change but rather their role. The university is not generally aimed at reproduction of traditions preferring innovative educational processes.