On assessing students' human capital at the stage of vocational training

Abstract

Introduction. The successful professional activity of university graduates is determined by their human capital. Problems in the formation of human capital draw attention to the mismatch between graduates' competencies and the requirements of the modern labour market, as well as the insufficient development of personal qualities necessary for adaptation to rapidly changing socio-economic conditions. This necessitates a comprehensive study to assess the students' corpus of personal and professional qualities and to design technologies for further development of human capital. The aim of the study is to identify and describe the characteristics of students' human capital in the context of vocational training (based on the author's diagnostic programme). Materials and methods. The survey was conducted on the basis of the developed diagnostic programme “Studying the attitudes towards vocational training and personal resources of university students”, which includes a set of diagnostic methods based on the principle of compatibility and designated according to the identified components of human capital. The diagnostic programme assesses cognitive, personal, sociocultural, and health-preserving components of human capital. The survey invoIved 862 respondents — students from four leading universities. The statistical analysis of the data was performed using the JAMOVI software (version 2.2.28). Results. The research on human capital based on the diagnostic toolkit, focused on assessing the cognitive characteristics as well as personal and professional concepts of the education subjects, revealed the characteristics of the human capital of higher education students. The resulting human capital profile showed a mixed picture: a high level of metacognitive skills (planning and monitoring); however, 39.8% of respondents showed a mismatch between the acquired skills and the requirements of the labour market; both the students' personal strengths (motivation, positive regulation of emotions, satisfactory level of tolerance) and areas requiring development were identified; the level of responsibility was unevenly distributed despite a good level of communication skills (79%), tolerance (84%), and integrity (81%); 52.1% of respondents rated their health as good. Conclusion. The study revealed the potential of human capital, but also pointed to the need for targeted work on the development of its individual components. The results can be used to develop a human capital development strategy based on a comprehensive approach, covering both the learning process (correlation of educational programmes) and upbringing (social activities). The developed toolkit can be used for further scientific research in the sphere of education and human resource management.