Abstract:

A University’s strategy involves making convenient ground for the university’s development through implementing the results of scientific and educational activities and diversifying social policies aimed at youth groups. This article regards project activities as a type of contemporary human activity aimed at creating a skill set such as common sense culture skills, professional and social skills necessary for establishing social and cultural interactions in various situations.
Project activities are aimed at using knowledge and skills acquired within the education process. Various project activities form an interconnected system of projects which leads to a synergistic effect. A variety of projects is explained by a need to provide enough information regarding professional values which are important for a trained specialist in the labor market. The model that goes under the tentative name “Project Node” seems a rational choice for our research. The Project Node model allows organizing interactions between structure elements in the science/education system of a university. This model also permits focusing on projects, products and services that are aimed at solving tasks of the government, society and commercial enterprises in the condition of global competition and ever-changing intercultural and inter-disciplinary interactions. Namely, these are: the emerging of a so-called Productive Citizen who speaks two or more foreign languages; strategies of popularizing science and education in the telecommunications sphere; filling the virtual space with cultural, historic and socially valuable content, etc. An important part of the indicated Project Nodes is their social value, orientation to spiritual and moral development; their help in establishing mature personal notions which would be relevant for all target groups.
The contemporary education community is facing major challenges which require a revaluation of education processes considering globalization results, the big digital shift, and internationalization of science, education and social communications. This article presents a system approach in solving similar strategic tasks and invites to rethink the traditional approaches to education.
We propose to ponder on the necessity of dynamic evolution in the electronic education media. We also focus on personal professional evolution of individuals who are interested to stay updated with the relevant recent trends. The goal setting of social and cultural interaction actors in the virtual space is of high importance.
The article reviews an implementation of this model based on certain projects carried out in two major universities in Moscow, Russia: Moscow State Linguistic University (MSLU) and RUDN University.

Keywords:

MSLU, RUDN, project activities, student science, education, socio-cultural interactions, virtual environment, intercultural communications, project node