ИСТИНА

The article analyses and describes the results of studying how the students perceive the image of a modem university teacher. Tertiary education in the 21st century requires changes in teacher attitudes and behaviours. The perception of the teacher's image by students is one of the most important factors affecting their attitude to the academic process. Several criteria assessed by the students anonymously are singled out: professional, personality-related and social ones. It seems reasonable to look for the peculiarities of teacher image perception by the students of different universities, namely the College of Asian and African Studies (CAAS of MSU) and the Russian Economic University (REU). The aim of the study was to identify and analyse the specific features of the image of teacher perceived by various groups of students. The empirical part of the study was conducted at the chair of West European languages of CAAS. The participants were: 45 students of CAAS, majoring in one of the four specialties: philology, history, economics or political science, and 31 students of the REU, studying economics or IT. The students of CAAS learn oriental or African languages and European languages, while REU students learn only English. The methodology of the study was to design a questionnaire in order to reveal the teacher personality traits, social and professional qualities. The analysis showed that the students' perceptions of the teacher image undergo some transformation over years of study, though not very dramatic. The professional component proves to be the most crucial for undergraduate students of both universities. Most students agree that the content knowledge is more important than general erudition or command of contemporary teaching methods. The most important personality traits tumed out to be communication skills - the ability to listen and hear and respect for students. As for the teacher type, there is a distinct mismatch between expectations and reality.