FUNCTIONALITY OF HIGHER ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN RUSSIA:
OBJECTIVE CHALLENGES AND SUBJECTIVE READINESS OF ACTORS 

Savinova Alina Vladimirovna, Postgraduate student, Ulyanovsk State Technical University (32 Severny Venets street, Ulyanovsk, Russia), savinova_91@mail.ru
Shinyaeva Ol'ga Viktorovna, Doctor of sociological sciences, professor, head of sub-department of political science, sociology and public relations, Ulyanovsk State Technical University (32 Severny Venets street, Ulyanovsk, Russia), olses@rambler.ru

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10.21685/2072-3016-2017-4-10

Background. In the conditions of rapid development of the economy and computer technologies, the society puts forward new requirements to the institution of higher technical (engineering) education. Engineering education is functionally as much as it corresponds to social “challenges”, actual needs of the labor market and their perception by the main actors of educational institutions. The purpose of the article is to analyze the functions and functionality of higher engineering education in the context of objective requirements of society and subjective representations of students of technical universities.
Materials and methods. The analysis is based on the generalization of the theoretical positions of foreign and domestic sociologists on the functions of the Institute of Education and their changes; processing and interpretation of the results of the secondary analysis of all-Russian sociological research and author’s survey of engineering students in the Ulyanovsk region.
Results. We found a discrepancy between the objective requirements of the society for higher technical education and subjective perceptions of the profession of students. Modern engineering education insufficiently effectively forms the necessary competences of students and contributes to their professional development.
Conclusions. The modern higher technical school cannot be limited to the performance of the function of translating knowledge, it must be a source of new knowledge, form the professional values of a postindustrial society. The need to accomplish a “technological breakthrough” puts technical universities in front of the need for the formation of professionally prepared, initiative, knowledgeable graduates. Increasing the functionality of engineering education is possible through the interaction of the main actors of the process – the institution of higher education, employers and educational institutions.

functionality of engineering education, the functions of a technical university, the attitude of students to engineering professions

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