RETRACTED: The wheel of science: A model for managing scientific activities in higher education as a factor in developing flexible skills of the youth in the region

Abstract

• A structural and functional model for managing scientific activities has been developed. • Tools for managing scientific activities have been proposed. • The main stages of scientific activity management have been structured. The purpose of the study was to create and introduce a model for the management of scientific activities that reflects the current situation, contributes to the implementation of general management functions, describes the capabilities of science, and can be further used to develop students’ flexible skills. The experiment was conducted in the South Ural State Humanitarian Pedagogical University (Ural Federal District, Russia) in 2019–2021. The theoretical framework of this study was the theory of management functions by Henri Fayol. The cross-functional teams included individuals of different ages (teachers and students) who had equal rights and had not previously collaborated with each other in the field of scientific research. The functional roles of study participants necessary for creating a research product were “manager”, “idea giver”, “test conductor”, “analyst”, and “editor”. In total, seven teams of 49 students were formed. The main theoretical results of this study are represented by defined concepts of general management functions, established principles for the management of scientific activities, offered tools for managing scientific activities, and the developed structural and functional model for managing research activities. The practical research results reside in the experimental implementation of the scientific activity management model in higher education. As a result of the experiment, intellectual product-related (scientific publications, presentations delivered at conferences) and educational (improvement of students’ flexible skills) results were obtained. Furthermore, the influence of research activities on the formation of flexible skills of students and the dynamics of their skills formation in accordance with the function performed in the team (positive, neutral, and negative) was revealed. In general, the students involved in research activity management showed an improvement in all flexible skills. The scientific value of the developed model is in the implementation of the DBR methodology, supplemented by a mix of philosophical, theoretical, and methodological approaches. It allowed forming and studying the social mechanism of research activity management to improve students’ flexible skills.