POST-GRADUATE STUDIES IN THE POST-SOVIET RUSSIA:COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS (part 2)
Introduction. The paper analyzes the results of a mass sociological survey of postgraduate students in the research institutes of the Novosibirsk Academgorodok. The task was to identify the main social characteristics of postgraduate students, primarily the reasons for entering the postgraduate studies, their assessment of the current state of the basic elements of scientific activity, ideas about the future and scientific career, in particular, the criteria and factors for its success/failure. A separate task was to identify the dynamics of these characteristics compared with the previous similar study in 2005. Methodology and methods of the research. The study used the method of mass sociological survey; the data obtained were processed with the help of the SPSS program; simple distributions were used for the initial analysis. For identifying the dynamics of the basic indicators, the methodology of comparative analysis was applied. The results of the research: 1) for majority of postgraduate students, the path to science began already at school; 2) the vast majority of them are not new to science (they have experience in conducting research, including grants, participated in scientific conferences, have scientific publications); 3) among the negative trends that are manifested today in the institutes of Academgorodok, the main ones are low wages of research workers and weak financial and instrumental-material security of research; 4) deciding to choice a scientific career the main role is still playing such factors as the craving for knowledge and creativity; 5) a substantial part of the interviewed graduate students still plan to make a career in the field of science and high technology. Conclusion. A persistent nature of the professional ethos of Russian scientists is observed: this primarily concerns strategies for building a scientific career and the choice of criteria for its success.