Project Activity of Students as an Adaptation Mechanism to the Future Profession (Case Study: Students of the Public Administration Programme)

This research paper is devoted to the study of the impact of projects on the adaptation of students to the future profession of public servant. The paper considers the theoretical foundations of adaptation, namely: approaches to the interpretation of this term; factors helping to successfully completing of this stage, as well as indicators of success; its goal; adaptation mechanisms; stages through which the individual goes through adaptation at the workplace and its types. In a separate chapter project activity was analyzed. The definitions of this concept, features, types, functions were considered. Also, in one paragraph the trends of implementation and development of projects in higher education institutions were studied. The project activity was analyzed in detail at the Higher School of Economics at the Public Administration Programme: the types of proposed projects, its topics and number (from the moment of their implementation). It was also important to distinguish between the following concepts: “projects”, “practices” and “internships”. It was necessary to connect the projects and the competencies that they form, because this is how it can be proved that projects are an adaptation mechanism. Work was carried out to compare competencies from the Competency Model and from the Educational Standard. The practical part is based on 3 mini-studies: a survey, a secondary data analysis, an interview with the academic supervisor.