UNIVERSITY STUDIES AND RESEARCH WORK

Middle ages with the help of the word ‘universitas’ (in Latin - combination of many) different communities were called, such as comradeships, merchants‘ guilds, trade-production shops etc.

Now the word “university” means institution of higher education, usually comprising a liberal arts and sciences college and graduate and professional schools and having the authority to confer degrees in various fields of study. A university differs from a college in that it is usually larger, has a broader curriculum, and offers graduate and professional degrees in addition to undergraduate degrees.

Types of the universities

1. Industrial Shop Corporation

First European Universities originate from Industrial Shop Corporations (Sorbonne and University of Prague). In this model pupils gathered around the master (teacher) to get the mysteries of trade from hand to hand, by the teacher in person. The teacher had small number of pupils. Nowadays this form of teaching is called Associative Pedagogy.

2. Classical Research University

In the beginning of XIX century Humboldt and Fichte established a new type of University that later became the model of German Classical Research University. That was the formation of a new type of teaching – professor as a scientific knowledge holder and as a teacher who familiarizes students with the true science and art. The teacher shares not just his own experience, but also some kind of universal experience of generations, estranged knowledge. This model was taken into practice by all the European countries and Moscow University established by M. Lomonosov followed this model as well.

3. Factory University Type

Factory University Type is the type of University where science takes the sidelines and, instead of assimilating the scientific basics, students assimilate different systems of knowledge, packed in academic subjects. Students learn about 80-100 academic subjects. One of the defining traits is a teacher-specialist who, following the standard scheme, transfers knowledge estranged from its holder. His task was to prepare hundreds and thousands of specialists who know and can use standard set of actions and procedures. Due to the rapidly developing economy and knowledge growth and complication, boost of professional requirements, this University type is becoming behind the development and losing its positions nowadays, though some Russian Universities still use this model.

4. Supermarket University Type

This model was worked out in American Universities. This type is connected with the credit system of education. Students study academic disciplines and get a number of credits that can be reckoned with another University of the State or even other country. Students get a definite list of disciplines, the majority of which is optional. The more prestigious the University is the more such optional disciplines one can take. There is a kind of educational manager whose job is to supply the process of students` following educational schemes and getting credits and also to control the work of educational mechanism in general. This type is quite flexible and gives conditions for students` independent work.

5. Project University

This type originates in developed countries, especially in the USA in advanced Universities and in best Universities of USSR (Physic Technological University). It supposes familiarizing students with design practice and earl professional training through involving students into the work of the places of their future professional activity after graduation. There is a very slight difference between teachers and students in this type. Team work is necessary here. There are different specialists in this team who have their own goals in the project. It`s important that students get not just universal knowledge, but also project thinking, creativity, communicative and business competence. This type is impossible in mass in large numbers as it is difficult to control.

6. Network University Type

This type of Universities is characterized by working in accordance with common international programs (double diplomas program, joint projects and research programs), producing strategies of country development, development of economy, projects and programs for business companies and corporations, not just teaching future specialists. In such conditions University is not just an educational establishment. It`s a kind of corporation-holding, fulfilling different culture functions.

RESEARCH WORK

Research can be defined as the search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, with an open mind, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method. The primary purpose for basic research (as opposed to applied research) is discovering, interpreting, and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe.

Scientific research relies on the application of the scientific method, a harnessing of curiosity. This research provides scientific information and theories for the explanation of the nature and the properties of the world around us. It makes practical applications possible. Scientific research is funded by public authorities, by charitable organizations and by private groups, including many companies. Scientific research can be subdivided into different classifications according to their academic and application disciplines.

Artistic research, also seen as 'practice-based research', can take form when creative works are considered both the research and the object of research itself. It is the debatable body of thought which offers an alternative to purely scientific methods in research in its search for knowledge and truth.

Historical research is embodied in the historical method.

The phrase my research is also used loosely to describe a person's entire collection of information about a particular subject.

Generally, research is understood to follow a certain structural process. Though step order may vary depending on the subject matter and researcher, the following steps are usually part of most formal research, both basic and applied:

Observations and Formation of the topic

Hypothesis

Conceptual definitions

Operational definition

Gathering of data

Analysis of data

Test, revising of hypothesis

Conclusion, iteration if necessary

A common misunderstanding is that by this method a hypothesis could be proven or tested. Generally a hypothesis is used to make predictions that can be tested by observing the outcome of an experiment. If the outcome is inconsistent with the hypothesis, then the hypothesis is rejected. However, if the outcome is consistent with the hypothesis, the experiment is said to support the hypothesis. This careful language is used because researchers recognize that alternative hypotheses may also be consistent with the observations. In this sense, a hypothesis can never be proven, but rather only supported by surviving rounds of scientific testing and, eventually, becoming widely thought of as true. A useful hypothesis allows prediction and within the accuracy of observation of the time, the prediction will be verified. As the accuracy of observation improves with time, the hypothesis may no longer provide an accurate prediction. In this case a new hypothesis will arise to challenge the old, and to the extent that the new hypothesis makes more accurate predictions than the old, the new will supplant it.

The historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use historical sources and other evidence to research and then to write history. There are various history guidelines commonly used by historians in their work, under the headings of external criticism, internal criticism, and synthesis. This includes higher criticism and textual criticism. Though items may vary depending on the subject matter and researcher, the following concepts are usually part of most formal historical research:

Identification of origin date

Evidence of localization

Recognition of authorship

Analysis of data

Identification of integrity

Attribution of credibility

Research methods

The goal of the research process is to produce new knowledge. This process takes three main forms (although, as previously discussed, the boundaries between them may be obscure.):

Exploratory research, which structures and identifies new problems

Constructive research, which develops solutions to a problem

Empirical research, which tests the feasibility of a solution using empirical evidence

Research can also fall into two distinct types:

Primary research (collection of data that does not exist yet )

Secondary research (summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research)