Development of a system for measuring the efficiency of teaching and scientific activities in higher education: Experience of St. Petersburg State University

Abstract

The system of higher education has not yet developed verified and reasonable criteria for evaluating the effi ciency of the teaching staff. The mentioned problem affects not only the field of management theory in higher education, but also has a quite visible practical implementation. Th e current state of affairs and prospects for the development of Russian higher education largely depends on the extent to which the system of performance indicators will create impetus for the professional growth of university teachers. The correctness and validity of the practical methods used in the implementation of these indicators is a factor that determines the social reputation and professional authority of scientific and pedagogical staff in higher education institutions. In the modern Russian system of higher education, there is a search for the most reasonable, objective and fair criteria for evaluating the activities of the teaching staff. The main of these methods presents visible innovations in the employment relations based on a system of effective contracts. At the same time, the large-scale changes that this system brought to the sphere of employment relations could not objectively enter into everyday life bypassing problems and contradictions. The objectives of this article are to summarize and show the positive experience in application of the system of indicators for evaluating the efficiency of scientific and pedagogical staff accumulated at St. Petersburg State University. The experience allowed us to evaluate the most significant and important elements of this system, which, being tested in practice, have shown their effectiveness as motivation for the professional growth of the teaching and scientific staff and, at the same time, confirmed their importan ce as a mean of achieving the goals of the St. Petersburg State University’s development program. The research relevance of this article is to point out the practical foundations available at St. Petersburg State University for the development of universal provisions on the creation and implementation of an effective system of incentives regulating the work of scientific and pedagogical staff.