Diagnostics and assessment tools for soft competencies of students

The rapidly changing conditions in the labor market require special attention to the training of university graduates. The employer today is interested not only in the professional competencies of graduates, but also in young people with soft competencies. Higher educational institutions become the vector of application of new technologies and transformation of the student training system. A sufficient number of domestic and foreign studies of scientists on the development of soft competencies of students do not always disclose methods for diagnosing and evaluating of them. Formally, the results of training (universal competencies) are spelled out in the programs of working disciplines, but it is not always possible to assess the level of their development in reality. The purpose of the study was justification of the choice of tools for assessing and diagnosing the level of students’ soft competencies in the process of higher education. In the description of the training results of the Basic Professional Educational Program (hereinafter – BPEP), the Curriculum of the Linguistics 45.03.02 direction, the universal competencies of the students are enshrined, allowing the student to adapt to the rapidly changing conditions of the field of professional activity. The described labor functions of the Professional Standard "Specialist in the field of translation" disclose some aspects of professional activity that can be correlated not only with the field of translation studies, but also with any other. The results of a study in the field of linguist training by the teaching staff (hereinafter referred to as TS) of the Higher School of Foreign Languages and Translation studies (hereinafter referred to as Higher School) of Kazan Federal University: participation in the project "Open Model of Education: Formation of Universal Competencies" – KomPas, development of the competence profile of the translator «Soft skills 2030» of the Consortium of Universities (KFU, NRU HSE, ITMO University, Ural Federal University, TSU, Tyumen State University) allowed us to highlight the demanded flexible competencies based on the analysis of labor market requests and expert opinions in this area: goal achievement and self-development, self-presentation and etiquette, effective communication, time management and self-organization, critical and systemic thinking, interpersonal and intercultural interaction/teamwork, leadership, decision-making and responsibility, creativity and motivation, stress management. The participation of TS of Higher School in the above projects required the improvement of the BPEP and the creation of a base of diagnostic tools.

competences, soft competences, assessing soft competences, diagnostics of soft competences, teaching foreign languages