The impact of dual education on the formation of professional competencies of future engineers in Ukraine

Abstract

In the context of transformation processes in Ukraine's higher education system, the issue of modernizing approaches to the professional training of engineers is becoming increasingly relevant, driving a growing interest in the dual form of education. The combination of academic education with practical experience directly at enterprises allows not only to reduce the gap between theory and practice, but also to increase the adaptability of graduates to the labor market. The purpose of this article is to clarify the features of the dual form of education's influence on the process of forming professional competencies in future engineers and outline the prospects for its improvement within the national educational space. Methods. The study applied general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization) to study the current state and conditions for implementing dual education in Ukraine. The advantages, limitations, and challenges faced by participants in the dual educational process were identified, and models of organizing training were systematized based on the results of implementing pilot programs. Results. The study's results clarified the content of professional competencies developed during the dual training of engineers, revealed the mechanisms of their implementation in the educational process, and analyzed the factors affecting the effectiveness of such training. Several practical recommendations were proposed, encompassing improvements to pedagogical conditions, organizational and methodological support, and partnership interactions between educational institutions and employers. Particular attention was paid to the issues of personnel support, the development of the mentoring institute, digitalization of the educational process and legal regulation of dual relations. Conclusions. The results obtained enable us to consider the dual form of training as a promising tool for enhancing the quality of engineering education, provided that an integrated approach is implemented to support its regulatory, methodological, and personnel aspects. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the systematization of the factors affecting the effectiveness of dual training from the perspective of professional competency formation, and its practical value lies in the proposed mechanisms for enhancing the effectiveness of partnership interaction between higher education institutions and the production sector. In the future, it is advisable to focus scientific attention on empirical studies of the impact of individual elements of dual training on the effectiveness of professional training of specialists.