Abstract:

The paper studies education in humanities in a technical university. The topicality of this question is caused by modern economic reality. Nowadays a wide range of engineering competences which are beyond the limits of technical disciplines is becoming topical. Any products developed by an engineer require not only design, implementation and production, but also the determination of a potential customer, maintenance and disposal of the product, and the assessment of its potential impact on society. Also, it should be noted that the engineer generates innovative information that must be protected from competitors and responsibly used to create products in order to avoid lawsuits from the government and consumers. This requires understanding and application of the principle of social responsibility. Traditional ways of organizing social and humanities unit in university education were focused on training erudite graduate who has some knowledge gained in the study of social and humanitarian disciplines. Nowadays disciplines of social and humanities unit should develop not only common cultural, but also professional competencies, formed in the context of understanding the social orientation of engineering. The paper presents the theoretical basis and practical methods to achieve this goal.

Keywords:

Modern education, competencies, humanities, engineering.