The professionalism of a higher school teacher and the quality of their work largely determine the quality of training of future graduates who are ready for professional advancement in the context of the development of new high-tech technologies and the increasing demands of partners in the real sector of the economy. In this regard, the research aims to find ways and mechanisms to improve the professionalism of the teacher, their training, and retraining in contemporary educational practice. The article presents the research results obtained at the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of Penza State Technical University (Penz STU) on the concerned problems. The novelty of the research lies in the effective ideas, approaches, and principles of constructive problem-solving in educational practice proposed based on the analysis of normative, historical, pedagogical, and scientific literature of foreign (Germany, Great Britain, and the USA) and domestic practices. It is shown that the studied and characterized models of improving the professionalism and training of academic staff in higher education, identified leading principles underlying the implementation of these models, and the relationships among the goals, results, and conditions of training and retraining of academic staff in the realities of today can be in demand and successfully implemented. As promising areas for improving the professionalism of a higher school teacher to effectively address issues of high-quality training of graduates, the authors offer to provide pedagogical support as the most productive technology to support a novice teacher during their professional adjustment, conducting monitoring of the effectiveness of teachers' activities to improve the quality of their professionalism, and encouraging effective and efficient work, as well as providing social partnership and integration of all types of educational resources.