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Abstract
This paper offers an analysis of a survey, conducted among faculty of regional Russian universities on the topic of how communication, communication studies, and education are viewed today within Russian academia. With the changes taking place within Russian education, the field is still somewhat “undefined–unidentified”. While continuing discussions about communication and communication training are taking place, there are few empirical studies in or outside of Russia looking at the development of the discipline and communication education. With this in mind, the author conducted a study to explore two questions: (1) how Russian educators view communication and communication studies; and (2) how they view the need for communication education at the university level. This article primarily discusses the first question, with a subsequent article planned to address the second. A discussion of the results and the implications for research is given from a sociocultural perspective.
Notes
1. See, for example, programs for professional associations’ conferences, International Communication Association, National Communication Association, Russian Communication Association (RCA), and National Association of Mass-Media Researchers; also publications by Hazen (Citation2008), Kashkin (Citation2014), Kazarinova (Citation2006), and Matyash (Citation2003, Citation2005/2003, Citation2006, Citation2011, Citation2014).
2. See, for example, the 20th Readings by the Moscow Methodological Circle by G. P. Schedrovitsky, 23 February 23: http://www.fondgp.ru/projects/chteniya/46/.
3. As it is stated in the report of the recent Winter School of Open University Skolkovo, organized for young innovators (February 2014), communication was a key topic: http://community.sk.ru/opus/b/newsletter/archive/2014/02/26/_5b00_newsletter_5d00_-26-fevralya--novosti-i-anonsy-otkrytogo-universiteta-skolkovo.aspx.
Another example (from the author's personal discussions) is that in the field of PR and Advertising, employers are seeking to create new standards for professional competencies, recognizing that the current ones, adopted by the universities, appear to be too limiting.
4. The survey questions do not ask respondents directly if they view Communication Studies as practical and applied, but the concept was that it could evidentiate to a useful degree through their answers. In the coding technique, it is known as identifying latent themes, underlying ideas, patterns, and assumptions (Boyatzis, Citation1998).
5. The leading national universities offer some master's degrees where communication is conjoined with other fields, for example, St. Petersburg State offers master's degree in Strategic Communication in PR and Advertising (Higher School of Journalism and Mass Communications) or Sociology of Communications (School of Sociology).
6. The author expresses acknowledgement to researchers Katerina Tsetura and Anna Kochigina, Gaylord College of Journalism, University of Oklahoma, for their participation in the initial coding.
7. The participants also varied by age, years of professional service, and their institutional status; however, these demographic characteristics did not inform their accounts and therefore were not included into the final analysis.
8. Any textbook on interpersonal communication provides an extensive vocabulary around this concept. See, for example, Pearce (Citation2007), Floyd (2011), Adler, Rosenfeld, and Proctor (2012), Beebe, Beebe, and Redmond (2013), and Wood (2013).
9. Here, we follow Baxter's definition of a discourse as a system of meaning, or a set of propositions that cohere around a given object of meaning (Citation2011, p. 2).
10. In this light, it may be meaningful to analyze the RCA's work and its role in establishing the discipline in Russia. This professional organization was created in 2000 with a primary goal to promote the development of communication discipline(s) and education in Russia; yet, it has to be seen what influence it has had in setting an agenda and helping to define communication education policies in the country.
11. Thus, Psychology, which was conventionally characterized as a fundamental science, had a higher “scientific” (scholarly) status than Pedagogy, which was viewed as deriving from and dependent on psychology research and so labeled as an applied science. The scholars of Pedagogy who did not accept its “secondary status” have been struggling for decades to establish the identity of their discipline.