Quality Monitoring of Scientific Activity Management in the Modern Ukrainian University

Abstract

The research aims to identify successful control practices and shortcomings of strategic planning and organization of scientific activity in modern-day Ukrainian universities. The paper shows the analysis of the scientific activity managing experience at Poltava V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University (here and after PNPU) with further correlation with the practice in other educational institution of Ukraine. The study presents the results of monitoring the opinion of 140 scientific and pedagogical staff members of PNPU, 31 heads of departments of other Ukrainian universities and 24 representatives of young scientist councils of the country regarding the assessment of their own activities and the importance of indicators of scientific work based on a Likert type scale questionnaire. The descriptive statistics methodology was used to analyze the answers to gather dater to formulate the proposals for improving the efficiency of scientific activity of the staff.
 The author analyzes the communication channels between the administration (rector’s office, deputy deans for scientific work, department heads) and scientific and pedagogical staff; determining the level of communication to ensure awareness of the creation of grading. The article presents views on the principles of rating scoring, the correlation of individual and collective contribution, the unreasonable equivalence of all components in rating formation, and the mixing of scientific and other types of activity. The study raises the question of a mixture of concepts – the annual scientific rating with the image of a scientist, the Hirsch index. There is an interpretation of the differences between the tool for stimulating scientific work and the help to activate structural units (the international department, the department of postgraduate studies, the administration for providing free internships or free scientometric publications).
 Remarks are given regarding the development of a system of material incentives that would be felt by individual scientific and pedagogical workers and structural units, which would make it impossible for the time duration of the set of low (often zero) indicators of scientific work due to disappointment with the degree of evaluation of one’s own work. The question was raised that the rating should take into account the diversity of specialties of the higher education institution and the uniqueness of the work of the staff. The need to give educators the right to choose a field in which they will be able to express themselves and to ensure an appropriate rating that will affect the calculation of additional fees is expressed (as an example, ratings of scientific, methodical, social image work; scientific work is calculated based on the results of the publication of a scientific product, methodical – by the consequences of the implementation of the educational component, the introduction of methodological developments and can be formed taking into account the assessment of the quality of teaching by students, the social image will be formed based on the results of career guidance, socio-cultural, image, educational work of the educator).