Students and faculty interaction outside the classroom: perception and actual experience

Introduction. The study looks into the issues of student-faculty interaction outside the classroom. The research aims at investigating its specific features in terms of perception and actual experiences of the participants. Materials and Methods. The research utilized interpretation, analysis and generalization of the existing body of scholarly literature on the problem under investigation. As the methodological framework of the study socio-psychological approach was used, positing that the interpersonal context plays a significant role in the development of beliefs and values of the participants of social interaction. A questionnaire was prepared to collect data from students and academic staff. The design was identical for both groups of participants with variations in the word choice made where appropriate. The study involved 148 Bachelor students and 35 academic staff members of the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Nizhniy Novgorod. The feedback from the two samples was analysed and then compared to establish the points of convergence and divergence. Results. The research identified specific features of students’ and academics’ perception of out-of-class contact and pinpointed its most and least preferred forms, as well as most and least frequent types. The analysis shows that there is a discrepancy between the reported interest in out-of-class interaction and the actual experience in it among students and academics. The preferences and experiences of both groups of respondents are rather similar and formalized. Conclusions. The authors conclude that out-of-class contact between students and academic staff members has specific characteristics which influence its nature and frequency.