The article presents an analysis of the problems that arise in connection with the definition of the prospects for the sociology of higher education in the context of the features of the current stage of development and crisis processes in sociological knowledge itself. Authors believe, even a deep “immersion” of researchers into the educational environment does not always allow to adequately represent and explain the processes developing within it, that is due not only to limitations associated with the specifics of the science itself and the attitudes of researchers, but also with the bureaucratisation of educational reality, that minimises and in a number of cases even excludes the possibility of its sociological interpretation. The empirical base of the work was: 1) studies conducted by the authors or with their participation in universities of the Belgorod region and other regions of Russia from 2005 to 2023, including those organised by the Center for Social Technologies of BelSU; 2) secondary analysis of research carried out by graduate students, doctoral students and applicants in the preparation of their work in the dissertation council in sociological sciences at the Belgorod State National Research University; 3) an expert survey of specialists in the field of sociology of education, conducted by the authors in February 2023 (N=38). Based on the analysis of theoretical and empirical sources, the authors identify several circumstances that determine the emergence of barriers in the study of processes in higher education by sociologists. They are the corporativisation of modern universities in its "economic and managerial" dimension; the specifics of the attitude to sociological diagnostics of both the university bureaucracy and other participants in the educational process - teachers and students. In many cases, their position is not complementary to attempts to clarify certain aspects of the university's self-organisation. The very possibility of discussing them is often initially perceived by the participants as undesirable. According to the authors, under such conditions, any research aimed at obtaining the most relevant to reality, and not the results set in advance by the customer, takes on a peculiar form of "sociological investigation". At the same time, we are not talking about a formal replacement of terms, but about a significant adjustment of the approach, due to the characteristics of the object and subject of cognition, the capabilities of the subject and the situation in which the diagnosis is carried out.

sociology of education, sociology of higher education, higher education, bureaucratic corporation, university bureaucracy, sociological research

1. Babintsev V. P. Corporate relations in Russian universities: breaking tradition. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii, 2017: 7: 26–35 (in Russ.).
2. Babintsev V. P. Formal rationality in the management of higher education institutions in Russia. Sociologiya obrazovaniya, 2015: 9: 27–36 (in Russ.).
3. Babintsev V. P., Gaidukova G. N., Shapoval Zh. A. University Bureaucracy in Russia – terra incognita of sociology of education. Vestnik RUDN. Ser.: Sotsiologiya, 2022: 22 (4): 895–908 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.22363/2313-2272-2022-22-4-895-908.
4. Gaponenko A. L. Upravlenie znaniyami. Kak prevratit' znaniya v kapital [Knowledge management. How to turn knowledge into capital]. Moscow, Eksmo, 2008: 394 (in Russ.).
5. Zaporozhets O. N. Universitet kak korporaciya: intellektual'naya kartografiya issledovatel'skih podhodov: preprint WP6/2011/06 [University as a corporation: intellectual cartography of research approaches: preprint WP6/2011/06]. Moscow, VSHE, 2011: 48 (in Russ.).
6. Zborovsky G. E., Ambarova P. A. Resource capacity of the scientific and pedagogical community: administrative and mobilization approaches to analysis. Vestnik RUDN. Ser.: Sotsiologiya, 2022: 22: 4: 881–894 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.22363/2313-2272-2022-22-4-881-894.
7. Konstantinovsky D. L., Popova E. S. The new nature of educational and professional trajectories of youth. In Russia being reformed: yearbook: iss. 20. Ed. by M. K. Gorshkov. Moscow, Novyi Khronograf, 2022: 379–399 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.19181/ezheg.2022.14.
8. Krasinskaya L. F. Modernization, optimization, bureaucratization. What awaits high school tomorrow? Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii, 2016: 3: 73–82 (in Russ.).
9. Krasnova G. N., Peftiev V. I. Higher education in Russia: problems and solutions. Social'no-politicheskie issledovaniya, 2019: 3 (4): 59–72 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.24411/2658-428X-2019-10512.
10. Krog G., Kene M. Knowledge transfer at the enterprise: the main phases and influencing factors. Problemy teorii i praktiki upravleniya, 1999: 4: 74–75 (in Russ.).
11. Kuznetsov I. S. Students' trust and their educational trajectory after graduation. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii, 2023: 32 (1): 110–129 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.31992/0869-3617-2023-32-1-110-129.
12. Kurbatova M. V. Higher education reform as an institutional project of the Russian bureaucracy: content and consequences. Mir Rossii. Sotsiologiya. Etnologiya, 2016: 4: 59–86 (in Russ.).
13. Logvinova A. V. Regulation of social risks of administrative management of a regional university: abstract dis. ... cand. sociological sciences. Belgorod, 2020: 19 (in Russ.).
14. Lugovskaya M. V. Corporate knowledge management in professional universities: dis. ... cand. sociological sciences. Belgorod, 2018: 192 (in Russ.).
15. Ozerova M. M. Corporate communications in the management of the university: abstract dis. ... cand. sociological sciences. Belgorod, 2017: 17 (in Russ.).
16. Osipov A. M. Buropathology and paper pressure in Russian education. Vestnik RUDN. Ser.: Sotsiologiya, 2020: 20 (4): 953–966 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.22363/2313-2272-2020-20-4-953-966.
17. Pokrovsky N. E. The left march of international sociology against the backdrop of Niagara Falls. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, 2019: 2: 9–15 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250003996-8.
18. Rezaev A., Tregubova N. Once again about sociology and social analytics in the era of artificial intelligence development. Sociologicheskoe obozrenie, 2022: 21 (3): 9–30 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.17323/1728-192x-2022-3-9-30.
19. Seliverstova N. A. Imitation of educational practices in the field of higher education. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, 2020: 3: 71–77 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250008802-5.
20. Sliva A. V., Berezovsky V. A., Fokina V. N., Basov V. A. Financial and intellectual losses of the university due to excessive bureaucratization in the education system. Ekonomika obrazovaniya, 2015: 5 (90): 4–16 (in Russ.).
21. Tarabayeva V. B. Conflict management of innovative development of universities: abstract dissertation of the Doctor of Sociological Sciences. Belgorod, 2009: 42 (in Russ.).
22. Cherednichenko G. A. Trajectories of part-time students of higher education in the field of education and labor. Voprosy obrazovaniya, 2020: 3: 165–187 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.17323/1814-9545-2020-3-165-187.
23. Shabrova N. V. Trust and bureaucratization in universities. Vestnik SurGPU, 2019: 5: 224–232 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.26105/SSPU.2019.62.5.021.
24. Yanitsky O. N. On the problem of modernization of the humanitarian knowledge. Sociologicheskaya nauka i social'naya praktika, 2018: 6: 1 (21): 7–22 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.19181/snsp.2018.6.1.5734.
25. Babintsev V., Sapryka V., Serkina Ya. Formal Rationality Traps in Administration of Higher Education Institutions in Russia. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015: 214: 520–525. DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.755.
26. Fitzgerald T. The Tyranny of Bureaucracy. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 2009: 37 (1): 51–65. DOI: 10.1177/1741143208098164.
27. Humes W. The ‘iron cage’ of educational bureaucracy. British Journal of Educational Studies, 2022: 70 (2): 235–253. DOI: 10.1080/00071005.2021.1899129.
28. Lumby J. Distributed leadership and bureaucracy. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 2017: 47 (1): 5–19. DOI: 10.1177/1741143217711190.
29. Saks M. M., Adams T. L. Neo-Weberianism, professional formation and the state: Inside the black box. Professions and Professionalism, 2019: 9 (2). DOI: 10.7577/pp.3190.
30. Spector H. Bureaucratization, education and the meanings of responsibility. Curriculum Inquiry, 2018: 48 (5): 503–520. DOI: 10.1080/03626784.2018.1547615.
31. Urbano D., Guerrero M. Entrepreneurial universities: Socio-economic impacts of academic entrepreneurship in a European region. Economic Development Quarterly, 2013: 27 (1): 40–55. DOI: 10.1177/0891242412471973.