Higher Education in the Context of Digitalization Necessity and Sufficiency

Abstract

The digital environment is rapidly changing contemporary socio-cultural space, including higher education. The aim of this research is to analyze the opinions of residents of the capital megapolis of Russia – the city of Moscow – regarding the necessity and sufficiency of higher education; to identify factors that influence these opinions. The results of the study fully showed that almost all respondents consider higher education to be important and necessary, but not complete and high-quality enough in the era of digitalization, which requires constant, continuous and flexible learning. The gender and current level of education of the respondents do not influence the opinion about the need for higher education, younger survey participants are more likely to doubt its necessity, while the older generation tends to consider higher education both necessary and sufficient. It has been determined that respondents’ perceptions of the necessity of higher education are statistically significantly connected with defining a university as a practice-oriented platform with a qualified teaching stuff and various forms of extracurricular activities and student leisure. The connection has also been identified between the perception of a university as the source of corruption threats and the opinion about the lack of necessity for higher education.