Educational Risks as an Actualization Factor of the Ukrainian Studentshipꞌs Professional Self-Realization Risks

Abstract

The article analyzes the factors of actualization and possible ways of minimizing / overcoming the national university graduatesꞌ risks of professional self-realization. Particular attention is paid to analyzing the role of educational risks in reproducing the Ukrainian students’ risks of professional self-realization. Authorsꞌ definitions of concepts such as «risk», «educational risks», «risks of professional self-realization», «social subjectness of the person» are given. There are three levels of factors and manifestation the Ukrainian students’ risks of professional self-realization (macro-, meso-, micro-). Based on the results of sociological research carried out by the Department of Sociology V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University during 2000 – 2016, including those obtained through the use of methods of intellectual data analysis, the authors analyze three models of risk strategies (strategy of minimizing, strategy of transferring and a risk-avoidance strategy), the basis for the selection of which are socio-professional plans of Ukrainian students. The social-cultural portraits of students who have chosen one or another strategy to minimize the risks of professional self-fulfillment are depicted. It turns out that the complex capitalization of the agent (cultural, educational, professional, economic, social, identification) and his own subjectness are necessary components of successful coping with the risks of different levels. At the macro-social level, the authors analyze the phenomenon of the «situation of scissors,» which creates an institutional imbalance between the labor market in Ukraine and the system of higher education. There are two strategies for minimizing professional self-realization risks at the national level – paternalistic, which involves active state intervention in solving this problem, and a liberal one aimed at increasing academic freedoms of higher education, expanding their ability to respond promptly to the challenges of the contemporary labor market. The authors draw attention to the need of improving the state educational and economic policy taking into account the actual risks of professional self-actualization of graduates of the national higher education.