THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS OF HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM IN THE USA 

Pavlova Nataliya Anatol'evna, Candidate of pedagogical sciences, head of sub-department of foreign languages, Penza State University (40 Krasnaya street, Penza, Russia), nataliia.pavlova@inbox.ru
Nikolaev Boris Viktorovich, Candidate of historical sciences, associate professor, sub-department of legal disciplines, Penza State University (40 Krasnaya street, Penza, Russia), nikolboris@yandex.ru

378:73:340.143 (73)

Background. Large-scale changes in the system of higher education in our country necessitates the analysis of the foreign models of reform of higher education, the study of the U.S. experience in the development of the education system, its theoretical foundations. The aim is to investigate the basic theories and concepts that influenced the development of the theory and practice of higher education in the United States and created the theoretical basis for reforming the U.S. system of higher education.
Materials and methods. Implementation of the research objectives was achieved on the basis of the analysis of the democratic theory of Thomas Jefferson, the doctrine of liberal education, the influence of pragmatism on the formation and development of the U.S. higher education, the role of religious doctrine in higher education, the newest ideas of technocracy, and the concept of «multiuniversity » of K. Kerr. Methodology includes the methods of comparative and historical analysis, which allows to compare the contents and implications of the main theories and doctrines for the development of theory and practice of the U.S. higher education.
Results. The article aims to identify the main theoretical assumptions of higher education reform in the United States.
Conclusions. A special role in modern development of higher education in the United States is given to multiculturalism, consumerism, commercialization of higher education.

higher education in the United States, government reforms of higher education, theoretical foundations of higher education

1. Ivanova A. V. Differentsiatsiya obucheniya v vysshey shkole SShA (70–90-e gody XX veka): avtoref. dis. kand. ped. nauk [Differentiation of education in higher school in the USA (70s-90s of XX century): author’s abstract of dissertation to apply for the degree of the candidate of pedagogical sciences].Vladikavkaz,1998,20p.
2. Nikandrov N. D. Sovremennaya vysshaya shkola kapitalisticheskikh stran: osnovnye voprosy didaktiki [Modern higher school in capitalist countries: main problems of didactics].Moscow:Vysshaya shkola, 1978, 279p.
3. Zakharov I. V., Lyakhovich E. S. Missiya universiteta v evropeyskoy kul'ture [University mission in European culture]. Moscow: Fond «Novoe tysyacheletie», 1994, 240 p.
4. Dmitriev G. D. Anatomiya amerikanskogo universiteta [Anatomy of American universities]. Moscow: Narodnoe obrazovanie, 2005, 223 p.
5. Dzhefferson T. Avtobiografiya. Zametki o shtate Virginiya [Autobiography. Notes abour the State of Virginia]. Leningrad: Nauka, 1990, 314 p.
6. Kerr C. The Great Transformation in Higher Education, 1960–1980. Albany: State Univ. of New York Press, 1991, XXI. 379 p.
7. Veselova V. V. Problema obrazovaniya i vospitaniya v kontekste gumanisticheskoy paradigmy pedagogiki (konets XIX – 90-e gg. XX v.) [Problem of education and fostering in the context the humanistic paradigm of pedagogy (late XIX – 90s of XX century)]. Moscow: In-t teor. obraz. i pedag. RAO, 2000, vol. 2, pp. 282–346.
8. Makaev V. V., Elovoy Yu. I. Pragmaticheskaya pedagogika Dzh. D'yui i sovremennost' [Pragmatic pedagogy of John Dewey and the modern times]. Pyatigorsk: Izd-vo PGPIIYa, 1993, 30 p.
9. Hook S. Federal Support of Higher Education. New York: Paragon house, 1989, pp. 9–18.
10. Bell D. The Public Interest. 1967, no. 6, pp. 24–35.
11. Brzezinski Z. America in the Technotronic Age. New York, 1967, 248 p.
12. Yakubovskaya E. G. Realizatsiya strategicheskoy programmy «Amerika 2000» v kontse 80–90-kh gg. XX v.: k probleme sovershenstvovaniya sistemy obrazovaniya SShA: dis. kand. ist. nauk [Realization of the strategic program “America- 2000” in late 80s-90s of XX century: on the problem of improvement of the USA educational system: dissertation to apply for the degree of the candidate of historical sciences]. Moscow, 2003, 232 p.
13. Gershunskiy B. S. Rossiya – SShA: Integratsiya v sfere obrazovaniya [Russia – USA: Integration in the sphere of education]. Moscow: In-t teor. obraz. i pedagogiki, 2003, 444 p.
14. Kerr C. The Uses of the University. New York: Harper and Row Publ., 1963, 140 p.
15. Pavlova N. A. Problema kachestva obrazovaniya v sovremennom obshchestve: sb. st. II Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. konf. [The problem of education quality in the modern society: proceedings of II International scientific and practical conference]. Penza: PGTA, 2006, pp. 241–243.
16. Lustig J. Academe. 2004, vol. 90, no. 4, pp. 51–53.
17. Kerr C. The Uses of the University. New York: Harper and Row Publ., 1982, 204 p.