Higher education in youth minds: from education to work

Abstract

Background. In modern Russian conditions, the problem of employment and placement of young specialists is of considerable interest to researchers, and, first of all, due to the fact that the young people who are joining the ranks of working graduates face certain difficulties with the beginning of their working life. The purpose of the study is to analyze the attitude towards education at the university and to identify prospects and oppor-tunities for employment in the specialty. Materials and methods. Systematic and structural-functional approaches were used as methodological grounds. Based on the materials of the author’s research among students of Penza State University (2020, n = 252), a sociological analysis of students’ attitudes towards higher education, motives for choosing a profession and specialty was carried out, supplemented with statistical data and the results of other studies (VCIOM, Headhunter, SuperJob, etc.) to assess the effectiveness of youth employ-ment in various specialties and the impact of education on changes in the labor sphere. Results. Based on the data of the author’s research, the leading motives for admission were revealed: choice of university, profession, specialty, effectiveness of various strategies for attracting applicants, an assessment of training organization by students is presented. The use of statistical data and materials from other studies made it possible to characterize the current situation on the labor market, employment opportunities and professional self-realization of youth who graduated from universities. Conclusions. The study showed that the main motive for entering a university is desire to get high-paying job and become a spe-cialist in particular field; the choice of profession is largely influenced by interest and pres-tige of chosen profession; the choice of higher educational institution is conditioned by its fame and prestige; among the weaknesses in organization of educational process, an insuf-ficient number of hours is allocated for the most significant subjects. About one third of graduates are employed outside their specialty. There is an attitude towards a weak connec-tion between career and higher education as its main condition. Graduates working in their specialty have higher wages and more job satisfaction.

Keywords

• education
• higher education
• training
• employment
• labor market
• youth