Online communication in the educational environment of Russia and Germany: functional and dysfunctional effects of digitalization

Nowadays, the ability of the higher education system to adapt to external conditions is facing the challenge of online transformation and digitalization against the background of changes in the format of social relations in the direction of greater pluralism, demassification of information sources, channels and recipients. The relevance of the study lies in the need to assess the consequences of the transition to online communication of teachers and students in order to identify new functional / dysfunctional effects of digitization of the educational environment. The paper represents the results of an online survey (spring – summer of 2020), when the pandemic of the new coronavirus led to the transition to distance learning. The survey was conducted among students of Russian and German universities to identify the attitude of students to online education. Possible unintentional consequences of digitalization of the educational environment were identified. On the basis respondents’ answers, the authors have analyzed emotional attitude of Russian and German students to the compulsory transition to online learning as well as their assessments of its positive and negative aspects. The authors provide ratio of the advantages and disadvantages of online learning in the perception of Russian and German students, highlight some side effects of online communication between teachers and students, as well as the concerns of students caused by the transition to a new communication format. According to students of Russian and German universities, online communication is not beneficial for the quality of education. The increased time spent in front of the computer screen is considered harmful. Besides, students in both countries are concerned with the weakening of social ties and the loss of social contacts.

The Expulsion of Academic Teaching Staff from German Universities, 1933–45

In spring 1933, a political purge began in German universities, affecting around one fifth of their academic staff. This study examines the various stages of this process, uses new data to create a collective portrait of those dismissed and asks why they received so little support from their unscathed colleagues. An analysis of the reasons for their dismissal shows that approximately 80% were driven out on antisemitic grounds, even though less than a third belonged to the Jewish community. Their lives after their dismissal varied greatly. Whereas some managed to pursue highly successful careers while in emigration, others were murdered by the Nazis or committed suicide. At the same time the purge policy improved the career chances of younger academics and it is no coincidence that it was from their ranks that the largest number of supporters of the Nazi regime were recruited. Not until the second half of the war did leading German politicians and academic leaders recognise a further effect of this policy, namely that the emigration of numerous influential scholars had provided the Allies with a ‘considerable gain in potential’, including in highly significant military research.

When in Doubt … Career Indecision, Mental Wellbeing and Consultation-Seeking Behaviour—A Qualitative Interview Study among Students and Counsellors

University dropout is often preceded by a phase of doubt whether to continue studying, either in general or just the given subject. Mental health problems might be interrelated with this phase of doubt. Counselling services at German universities could provide help, but do not seem to reach students in need. To explore the phase of doubt and possible (inter-)relationships with mental wellbeing among university students in Germany as well as their consultation-seeking behaviour, a qualitative interview study was conducted (2017–2018). Participants were students casting doubts on their studies (n = 14) and counsellors (n = 16) working with this target group. Examples of reasons for doubts were insufficient information, unfulfilled expectations concerning the subject, subjectively poor study conditions, performance problems, and lacking future perspectives. Mental health problems were subjectively intertwined with doubts, considered as both cause and effect. Counselling services were evaluated as hardly helpful by students, and as being in need of improvement by counsellors. Suggestions as how to improve such services comprise a more specific and proactive way to approach students. By considering the phase of doubt before dropout, German universities can improve their support services to be more responsive to students and, thus, prevent dropout and mental health problems.

SOME WORDS ABOUT ONLINE PROGRAMS IN GERMANY . ACTUAL PROBLEMS OF APPLIED SCIENCES JOURNAL WORLD ISSN 2733-3817, (1(17), 73–75.

Considering the recent COVID-19 pandemic, online education has had a significant surge in popularity. And it’s not just online English schools or fitness courses, but also full-fledged higher education programs. Some experts predict that soon all universities will move to our tablets and laptops. Of course, if surgeons and nuclear physicists get their qualifications while sitting at home, a disaster will surely happen. However, there are several professions that can now be mastered remotely without any quality loss. The article also deals with the problems of studying in Europe. Here we try to introduce all the advantages of German universities and students’ life if they leave their home and come to study in Germany.

S. S. Uvarov and his unrealized draft of the charter of St. Petersburg University (1819)

The article deals with an important subject, which seems to have fallen out of the field of research, which is connected with the development of a draft special charter for the St. Petersburg University in 1819–1823. This project was developed personally by S. S. Uvarov, who was then a trustee of the Saint-Petersburg educational district. The aim of the work is to reconstruct the content of this lost project, which was based on the traditions of German free science, based on the materials of its discussion in the Main Board of Schools. This episode clearly reflected the triumph of religious- conservative attitudes in the policy of the Ministry of Public Education, which prevented the implementation of S. S. Uvarov's plans to "arrange" a European-level university in the capital of the empire, combining an educational organization on the model of German universities, a special faculty structure and management, more centralized than what was provided for by the university charters of the early XIX century.

Investigating the Blind Spot of a Monitoring System for Article Processing Charges

The Open Access (OA) publishing model that is based on article processing charges (APC) is often associated with the potential for more transparency regarding the expenditures for publications. However, the extent to which transparency can be achieved depends not least on the completeness of data in APC monitoring systems. This article investigates two blind spots of the largest collection of APC payment information, OpenAPC. It aims to identify likely APC-liable publications for German universities that contribute to this system and for those that do not provide data to it. The calculation combines data from Web of Science, the ISSN-Gold-OA-list and OpenAPC. The results show that for the group of universities contributing to the monitoring system, more than half of the APC payments are not covered by it and the average payments for non-covered APCs is higher than for APCs covered by the system. In addition, the group of universities that do not contribute to OpenAPC accounts for two thirds of the number of APC-liable publications recorded for contributing universities. Regarding the size of these blind spots, the value of the monitoring system is limited at present.