?
Проектная деятельность студентов-менеджеров как инструмент профессиональной социализации в вузе
Professional socialization of students is one of the most important problems faced by modern universities. On the one hand, the university allows young people to develop their own attitudes, ambition and self-esteem in relation to their future profession while mastering new knowledge, abilities, skills and forms of behavior as well as assimilating professional experience, standards and values of the professional community. On the other hand, professional environment transmits its own requirements and expectations towards students, along with the opportunities that can be provided to future young professionals. It is at the university when students learn the basics of the profession and start to enter the professional environment—that is why professional socialization at the university is of particular importance. In our opinion, project activity is an important tool for the professional socialization of students. The article analyses the experience of project activities on the Business Management bachelor’s program of the Faculty of Management at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (NRU HSE)—Nizhny Novgorod. The empirical base of the research included: 1. an expert survey of employees of HR departments of ten largest Russian companies operating in various business areas (banking, manufacturing, information technology, services, consulting) with a staff of 500 to 3 000 people; 2. a questionnaire survey of 3rd year students (n=106) of the “Business Management” educational program NRU HSE—Nizhny Novgorod; 3. an analysis of self-assessment reports of students participating in project activities (106 reports). The purpose of the study is to assess the role of project activities in the professional socialization of students and to assess their competitiveness in the labor market. The results of the study showed that employers highly value the soft skills which are developed at the university and which are necessary for the successful inclusion of a graduate in professional activities. Project activities at the university can become an effective tool for increasing the competitiveness of graduates in the labor market.