Remuneration of university teachers in the context of higher school modernization: Dynamics and differentiation

During the period of modernization of the higher education system, the problem of increasing the level of teachers’ salaries in accordance with the tasks set by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 05/07/2012 No. 597 “On measures to implement State social policy”, taking into account new socio-economic challenges, became relevant. The subject of the study is the salary level of Russian university teachers. The objectives of the work are to assess the dynamics of salaries of university professors and to establish the main factors determining the differentiation of salaries of teachers of different categories. The empirical basis of the study was made up of official statistics and the results of sociological surveys on wage issues in higher education conducted within the framework of the project “Monitoring the Economics of Education”. The study highlights the results of solving the tasks set out in normative legal documents on ensuring an increase in the average salary of university teachers to 200% of the average salary in the relevant region, the dynamics of the wage level, including the dependence of the wage level in the economy on the departmental affiliation of universities. At the same time, it was found that a significant number of teachers do not confirm the significant positive changes that have occurred in wages, and effective contracts concluded at universities lead to an unjustified increase in wage differentiation among employees of different categories. It is concluded that it is necessary to develop and implement management mechanisms that, on the one hand, establish uniform norms at the federal level for the ratio between the basic and incentive parts of salaries, and, on the other hand, enable universities to independently choose the optimal remuneration model, taking into account real opportunities and available resources.