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SPECIFIC FEATURES OF STUDENTS’ PROFESSIONAL SOCIALIZATION IN MODERN HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION Rymar Marina, SM The work is devoted to the analyses of specific features of students’ professional socialization in Ukrainian Universities. In the current social and economic situation, in the times of rapid innovation progress in education, universities, in attempt to meet the challenges of the time, have to revise their approaches to students’ professional training taking into consideration a lot of factors, including variable employment upon graduation, they have to aim at new criteria of quality and success of professional socialization. Professional socialization seen as one of the key functions of university education is of integral nature as it has both target and instrumental properties. Looking into university socialization the given research took into account that it is secondary (derived) socialization driven by students’ need to grasp a specific role model and the influence of this process on a society life activity. In other words education can be seen within a bigger picture of an individual’s socialization and cultural incorporation. Having studied the issue, we can see that professional socialization isn’t determined by universities only (by how they teach or ensure extra-curricula activities), mainly students themselves are responsible for it (taking part in extra-curricula events, combining part-time job with full-time education). Therefore, as well as professional training and forming preconditions for professional identity development, universities should target at students’ personality development and ensuring their self-fulfillment. The results of surveys carried out among university students let us state that in the period of education they tend to identify themselves with their group mates or fellow students as a social group while preconditions for recognition of themselves as professionals in a certain field are being formed, thus professional identity is developing. At the same time, a university system that doesn’t encourage professional socialization is still often a problem. It can get even worse when a student’s personal interests do not fully correspond with objective demands of professional socialization, which can result in dissatisfaction with the career choice made by an individual and their desire to change the field of study and the educational institution. The analyses of professional socialization as an active process of accumulation and realization of professional experience explicated the following issues universities have to deal with: leadership development, realization of one’s creative potential, which requires engaging students in various kinds of socially significant extra-curricula activities, an indefinite model of behaviour demonstrated by those who are not sure of their career choice or unable to assess their abilities adequately, as well as a dependent model of behaviour. The analyses of professional socialization as an active process of accumulation and realization of professional experience explicated its direct link with employers’ ideas of what qualities they expect to see in university graduates and how happy they are with their actual professional competence. 82% of employers acknowledge that theoretical knowledge of university graduates is formed on a high or medium level, 83% say the same about their personality, compared with 51% assessing practical skills as high or medium. Among the dominant professional and personal features the following ones were given the priority: self-organization, self presentation skills, ability to work with information (search, analyze and summarize), computer literacy, communication skills, learning capacity, urge to self-education, commitment to achieve results, interest in doing a job. The research results cast light on such problematic zone as existing miscoordination of employers’ requirements and students’/teachers’ ideas of high quality education. The cause of it partially lies in the fact that university representatives assess the education process whereas employers focus on its result. Efforts and activities in the following directions, in our opinion, could enhance the efficiency of University students’ professional socialization:
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