TRAINING PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SKILLS DURING STUDENTS’ LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Objectives:
The article explores the available current approaches to train students’ professional engineering skills.

Methods / Analysis:
The paper includes methods of the system approach in engineering education, the concepts of Professional Standard and systems thinking.
The authors use a multiple classification analysis to process the educational research data. The students of IT Systems of Moscow Polytechnic University and Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (63 people in the test group and 72 examinees in experimental groups) took part in the study. A special feature of the given system approach was to engage students in the discussion and basic requirements development for their performance results. The society has recently increased the demands on engineering education. The teamwork of social institutions and the educational system makes it possible to establish Professional Standards. They consist of a detailed listing of the regulatory requirements observed for employees’ quality of job functions performance in a particular field of professional competence.

Findings:
Implementing professional standards at the university needs appropriate approaches. The carried out research allows emphasizing the main trends in engineering education. The theory is connected with techniques and implemented as project activities using information technologies in a person - centered learning approach. Applying the system approach in education contributed to solving empirical problems within project activities. The students’ final work corresponded to the customer’s professional standards and requirements completely. The lecturers also applied a multiple classification evaluation of the performance when teaching basic information technologies subjects, including professional requirements. 5.6% of students from the experimental group had scored highest. At the same time, all students and lecturers achieved the grade of professional progress. According to the educational experiment, the results of the applied system approach in training meet the demands of Professional Standards.

Applications / Improvements:
Further research prospects can be related to a broader system approach in studying the academic courses of the humanities disciplines.