Encouraging effective research activity of university teachers

The article focuses on the necessity of intensifying research efforts of university teachers as required by the effective contract. The authors highlight the content of research work and its importance for educational process at university and determine teachers’ internal and external motives for research activity. The authors designed a questionnaire, which contains a set of reasons that could encourage university professors to conduct scientific study. Performing the survey allowed the authors to reveal the dominant motivation for scientific research activity. It also discloses the ways of optimizing university teachers’ professional activity in order to involve them in research work. The questionnaire results have proved instrumental in developing guidelines to enhance research activities of teachers. It includes incentives provision; creating conditions conducive to scientific productivity; a reasonable combination of contact hours and time for research reflected in individual teacher’s plans. Further techniques presuppose assisting teachers in filing and submitting applications forms and also in the presentation of the research results.