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TRUST AS AN INSTITUTIONAL PROBLEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION

E. Shuklina

Abstract

Background: Institutional trust is one of the fundamental issues in the Russian society. The crisis of trust towards the social institutions, which are responsible for the processes of vital importance, is becoming total. The use of such category as institutional trust is due to the necessity to react in an integrated and contextual way the processes, which are currently occurring in the system of higher education. The following study, which is based on the sociological research data, shows that strengthening of the level of trust to this social institution is especially important on the stage of its reformation. Being a social phenomenon, trust does not only provide sustainable functioning, but also promotes its adaptability to changes regarding this social institution. Methods: The study is based on the research data conducted in one of the major regions of Russia – the Ural Federal District (2016-2017). The research included mass survey of the teachers (810) and students (1860). The general totality included 51 institutions of higher education. In the course of our research the quota sample was conducted. Expert interviews were carried out (80 experts took part) and the representatives of the educational management and business structures were polled. Results: In the course of our study we found out that institutaional transformations in the area of higher education are traumogenic for educational communities. The strong chain of command is not promoting the development of connections between the institutional subjects based on the principles of self-development and self-management. Thus, it does not increase the level of trust between them as integral characteristic of the positive functional system of relationship. Conclusions: Speaking about social subjects, the activity of educational management of different levels is fraught with unpredictability, uncertainty, closeness, absence of information transparency and sometimes large-scale threats and risks. The issue of trust being destroyed as a social capital of the existing mutual connections, social practices, and their values-and-norms regulators needs to be addressed and demands special organizational efforts that should be aimed at its restoration.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2017/35/S13.083

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