Background. Under the reform of higher education, universities were divided into “effective” and “inefficient”. Falling into the “ineffective” category and subsequent changes in the team work become traumatic factors for the teachers. Objective. Analysis of the emotional state of teachers working in universities that have been declared “ineffective” in terms of burnout syndrome (EBS). Methods. The study was carried out based on the analysis of data obtained during social observation, interviews, and conversations with teachers. A hundred teachers of the Azov-Black Sea Engineering Institute (Zernograd, Rostov region) took part in the questionnaire based on V. V. Boyko’s method of diagnosing emotional burnout syndrome (CMEA). Results. Diagnosing EBS according to the method of V. V. Boyko showed that most of the teachers of the institute (53%) are at the stage of fully formed emotional burnout. Only 17% are at the stage of formation of the EBS and 30% are at the stage of internal resistance to the emerging syndrome. There were no educators among those surveyed who were not affected by emotional burnout at all. The obtained results require the development of a set of measures that would prevent the teachers’ burnout. However, at the moment only internal measures are available (organisation of sports, summer holidays, etc.), when external measures (by the state) are absent. As a result, the possibility of losing highly skilled workers of small agricultural universities is growing. Practical significance. The results of the study can be used when diagnosing EBS in teachers of various universities, and for developing a programme to regulate and overcome this negative psychological state