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Professional Education in the Modern World

2019 year, number 1

MECHANISMS OF INTEGRATION AND DIFFERENTIATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: COOPERATION VS. COMPETITION

S. Iu. Polyankina
Novosibirsk State Technical University, K. Marks Ave., 20, 630 073, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Keywords: интеграция, дифференциация, сотрудничество, конкуренция, высшее образование, integration, differentiation, cooperation, competition, higher education

Abstract

The article aims to establish the causes of dissatisfaction with higher education reforms. The author sees their origins in the discrepancy between the conceptual metaphors of education, which guide faculty and mega-and macro-regulators of the educational system in their decision-making process. The commercial logic of the latter forces individuals and organizations of higher education to focus on competition. However, this is in odds with the Russian mentality, and competition is often carried out through cooperation. Confronting the paternalistic management style is a powerful integrating factor. The author identifies and describes several levels at which competition and cooperation relations can be traced, and also characterizes socially approved and deviant ways to implement them. Relations of cooperation are mechanisms of integration in the subsystem of higher education, and mechanisms of differentiation are realized in competitive relations. Both mechanisms are interrelated and interdependent, and express the processes inherent in the development of any system. However, the methods by which integration and differentiation are implemented will affect the viability of the system and the moral climate within it. In the light of citizens» dissatisfaction with the ongoing reforms of higher education, their axiological aspect is extremely important. It is concluded that it is necessary to return to the ideals of dignity, as well as scientific, teaching and student ethics at higher school, which is possible only if the mega- and macro-regulators adhere to the principles of managerial dialectics; balancing the vertical of power with horizontal network relations based on competition and cooperation mechanisms within the professional community. In this situation, the professional community itself will be able to identify and propose indicators relevant to higher education as a process, result, and value, methods of assessment for the educational and scientific activities of universities and the efficiency of the faculty.