Training economics students for innovative activities

Abstract

An objective of this study is to develop some grounds for assessing and ensuring the readiness of economics students to participate in innovative projects. Having considered the principles of innovation economics and the reflexive-activity approach to the organization of educational process, we classified the tasks set before an economist in an innovative project and developed approaches to assess relevant competences. Using the model of assessing the individual progress of school students developed by the authors, we derived a level model of an economics student’s readiness for innovative activities. We conducted a survey and collected data that manifest three types of college student attitudes towards innovative projects in different countries. The results allow us to make assumptions on the relevant differences in the national (European, Asian, Russian) higher education systems in terms of training economists for innovative activities, and to make several suggestions for professional programmes aimed to train economists to participate in innovative projects, and, in particular, in reflective-analytical gamification of education and the procedures to create a professional language for innovation teams.