The aim of this article is to identify the characteristics which should be characterized by a university teacher who is an authority on student opinion. Development of the article preceded by literature studies and surveys conducted among university students. The main method used in the article is the analysis of the sources and the method of deduction and induction. The study allowed us to develop a set of characteristics of an academic teacher's authority. The content in this article are the description of the silhouette of an academic teacher in the literature, and on the basis of the conducted survey.