Personal Brand of University Teachers in the Digital Age

Abstract

Personal brand is becoming extremely important in any field of human activity nowadays: Politics, show business, sports, business and science. On the one hand, the educational sphere of developing countries of the former Soviet Union is characterized by private conflicts, including the “teacher-student” field, the low prestige of the teacher’s profession because of the weak financing of this sphere and devaluing the teachers’ work during many years. On the other hand, the orientation of economies to innovative markets, the digital transformation of socio-economic systems necessitate the maintenance of strong, competitive education and science. This is impossible without top universities, high-class research centers, and therefore without unique teachers and researchers. An important task in this context is the formation of a new generation of highly qualified specialists, unique pedagogues and scientists, competitive in the world market. A special role here belongs to personal branding of such specialists. The purpose of this article is to study how a teacher’s personal brand can be built, what opportunities it opens, what are its value and specific features. In addition, the authors explore what factors contribute to the creation of a personal brand in the context of education and science. To solve these research tasks, the authors use methods of analysis, comparison and synthesis of information, survey methods (questioning, interviewing, narrative technique), modeling. One of the most significant results of the study is the model of the teacher’s personal brand developed by the authors, which shows what attributes of the image are of great importance for the personal brand of a teacher and scientist.