Characteristic features of building life strategies by university student: Psychological and educational support for developing

Introduction. The article addresses the problem of psychological and educational support for university students in building their life strategies in the context of global transformation. The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristic features of building life strategies by university students and to determine the ways and forms of psychological and educational support for this process. Materials and Methods. The study is based on the ideas of learner-centered approach. In order to achieve the purpose of the study and test its hypotheses, the authors used theoretical (analysis, comparison, generalization, systematization) and empirical (questionnaire, method of mathematical and statistical information processing) methods. An electronic survey was used to collect empirical data. The study sample included 422 students of Kostroma State University. Results. The article presents a theoretical analysis of approaches to the problem of building life strategies, as well as the research findings in the field of psychological and educational support for students in the educational environment of the university. The study revealed the following characteristic features of the process of building university students’ life strategies: the external determination of this process, the dominance of short- and medium-term planning, the close connection of their own readiness for long-term planning with the existing experience of building life strategies in the family; the greater dependence of life strategies on the circumstances of a close social environment than on global transformational processes, the determination of the dynamics of building life strategies by personal competencies to a greater extent than changing social circumstances; ambivalence of the university’s impact on the process of building individual’s life strategies, which is expressed positively in the increase in the ability to plan and negatively – in the destruction of previously established life strategies. The authors have drawn the conclusion that mediated, contextual formats of education have a much stronger impact on individual’s life strategies than specially organized training programs on self-design. The study revealed the willingness of students to engage in specially organized activities aimed at designing life strategies at the university. Students’ demand for individual, psychological formats of support in the process of long-term planning has been identified. University teachers and curators are considered to be the most referential subjects for students to influence the life strategy in the university environment. Conclusions. Based on the data obtained, the authors identified the characteristic features of building university students’ life strategies and revealed the ways and forms of psychological and educational support for this process.