UNIVERSITY TEACHER: MODERN CHALLENGES, INCONSISTENCY AND PROSPECTS OF THE PROFESSION
The article is devoted to the systematization of the challenges posed by the modern university teacher, and the determination of the prospects for the profession. Rapid social and cultural changes are increasingly becoming a serious obstacle to maintaining the quality of teaching to a high standard. In the real world, the challenges of our time are in conflict with academic traditions in teaching. The article identifies four categories of the main challenges of our time as applied to the teaching profession: challenges of the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standards of Higher Education, economic challenges, generational challenges and the challenges of the latest information technologies. The technical side of frequent changes in the Federal State Educational Standards negatively affects the direct duties of the teacher as a student mentor and scientist. The economic challenge implies strong accents on the economic benefits of the activities of universities, which in practice turns the work of a teacher into a pursuit of ratings and relegates the teaching function itself to the background. The generational challenge is connected with the cardinal changes in the worldview of a modern young person brought up by new digital technologies. Classical teaching methods and technologies, which are based on the verbal form of presentation, under current informational conditions lose their effectiveness. Information technologies today significantly change the role of the modern teacher, who now acts as an expert consultant in the field of students' self-education. As a result, the profession of a university teacher, as we used to see it, is gradually becoming a thing of the past.