Socio-psychological competence of future engineers

Abstract Socio-psychological competence of future engineers Contemporary engineer alongside with wide general and specific knowledge has topossess a high level of intellectual culture, socio-psychological competence and ability toapprehend innovations rapidly and efficiently. Socio-psychological competence, as an integralcharacteristic of personality, means achievements in relations and interactions betweenindividual with other people which allows resolving social situations efficiently, and choosingand implementing adequate strategies and tactics of interaction, as well as self-regulation forthe successful social and professional activity. All engineering skills, including mechanization, automation, creating new andmodernization of existing technologies, and other kinds of activity based on fundamentalknowledge, should, first of all, aim at society and its members. It is not enough to be an expertin a specific sphere today. Existing social and technical reality requires professionals withbroad outlook, able to see interdisciplinary connections and having systemic thinking.Contemporary technologies create a specific environment. Today every engineering decisionintrudes into social reality of human society, transforms it, creates and imposes new materialneeds, and sets up new quality standards. Therefore contemporary engineer is a competent, responsible specialist, possessingknowledge and information in his own and in the adjacent activity fields, performingaccording to global standards, willing for the constant professional improvement, capable ofself-perfection and socially and professionally mobile. Productivity of engineer’s professionalactivity is estimated not only by techniques and technology, but also by his personal potentialand personal qualities. High social responsibility of a contemporary engineer makes ethicalaspects of their activity as significant as technological, economic and ecological factors. Thusone of the most urgent problems of higher engineering education is to develop socio-psychological competence of the future engineers to manage interpersonal relations withintheir working team and in the broader society. The goal of professional education is not onlyto provide vocational qualification, but also to prepare student for various social andprofessional situations. There are the following educational technologies to develop socio-psychologicalcompetence: trainings and team work, students’ research groups, panel discussions, master-classes and workshops with participation of leading specialists of research organizations andindustrial enterprises and some others. It is obvious that socio-psychological competence of engineering students is developedmainly by psychological and pedagogical courses. Typical engineering curriculum does notinclude many humanitarian disciplines. In our opinion, one of the most efficient ways to copewith this problem is to introduce this option within the system of supplementary professionaleducation (Russian equivalent of minor degree). In the contemporary context supplementaryprofessional education acquires an independent value and plays a decisive role being one ofthe main ways to be highly competitive at the labor market. The system of higher engineering education suggests step-by-step development ofmultiple components of an engineer’s professional competence. Competences trained at themajor are updated and developed while studying minor, becoming core, distinctivecompetences for a particular engineer. 1