TY - JOUR
T1 - Constructing academic identity in the changing Russian higher education context
T2 - preliminary perspectives
AU - Anikina, Zhanna
AU - Goncharova, Liubov
AU - Evseeva, Arina
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Prof. Terry Lamb and Dr. Sean Sutherland (University of Westminster, London, UK) for their valuable suggestions and comments. We are also grateful to TPU academics who participated in our study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 HERDSA.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/7/28
Y1 - 2020/7/28
N2 - Currently, Russian academics are facing significant demands because of a new, urgent requirement to pursue their research in accordance with international standards. Until recently, these academics were used to working within a familiar community and communicating their research via the Russian language, but now, they are expected to move beyond that and function on a global level, which can challenge their academic identities. A qualitative study was carried out in a research-intensive Russian university. The aim was to explore academics’ experiences and perceptions of the dynamic changes in their academic work with a particular focus on the limitations and pressures they meet in their career path towards global research. The data were collected by means of reflective journals during a course on English for academic purposes. Thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. The results showed that global trends turned out to be unachievable for Russian academics due to the lack of specific knowledge, attributes and skills required to do research globally. This might be the first study from Russia contributing to the literature on academic identity construction. The article provides insights into the experiences and perceptions of Russian academics and offers a research agenda for further investigation to bridge identity shifts in academia. In terms of practical purposes, the results will be used as a source of preliminary data within a broader research project aimed at supporting Russian academics in their research in an international English-speaking academic context.
AB - Currently, Russian academics are facing significant demands because of a new, urgent requirement to pursue their research in accordance with international standards. Until recently, these academics were used to working within a familiar community and communicating their research via the Russian language, but now, they are expected to move beyond that and function on a global level, which can challenge their academic identities. A qualitative study was carried out in a research-intensive Russian university. The aim was to explore academics’ experiences and perceptions of the dynamic changes in their academic work with a particular focus on the limitations and pressures they meet in their career path towards global research. The data were collected by means of reflective journals during a course on English for academic purposes. Thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. The results showed that global trends turned out to be unachievable for Russian academics due to the lack of specific knowledge, attributes and skills required to do research globally. This might be the first study from Russia contributing to the literature on academic identity construction. The article provides insights into the experiences and perceptions of Russian academics and offers a research agenda for further investigation to bridge identity shifts in academia. In terms of practical purposes, the results will be used as a source of preliminary data within a broader research project aimed at supporting Russian academics in their research in an international English-speaking academic context.
KW - Academic identity
KW - Russian academics’ perceptions
KW - Russian higher education
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U2 - 10.1080/07294360.2019.1704690
DO - 10.1080/07294360.2019.1704690
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85077363173
VL - 39
SP - 855
EP - 868
JO - Higher Education Research and Development
JF - Higher Education Research and Development
SN - 0729-4360
IS - 5
ER -