MODERN APPROACHES TO THE FORMATION OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES OF PROSPECTIVE EXPERTS OF THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

Abstract

The relevancy of the problem under study is due to the fact that at the moment the transition from a raw-material development model to an innovative socio-oriented type of economy is a necessary condition for the competitiveness of the Russian economy. In this regard, one of the priority directions of the social and economic policy of the Russian state is the dynamic development of the hospitality industry. For reason given, there is a demand to improve the quality of professional training of prospective experts in tourism and hospitality as active subjects capable of designing and implementing their own strategies for professional growth, possessing the necessary competencies, competitive personal qualities and professional mobility. The purpose of the paper is to outline the main theoretical provisions of modern approaches as methodological grounds for the professional training of specialists in the hospitality industry; and in analyzing the results of an experimental study of the professional positions of students as prospective experts in the hotel services. The leading methods of research of this problem are the content analysis of the main theoretical provisions of modern approaches to the formation of professional competencies of prospective hospitality experts from the positions of different authors, as well as the system analysis of the survey complex with students of 2-4 years (aged 18 to 21) in the total number of 73 people, studying in Petrozavodsk State University, in the student courses of “Hospitality” and “Tourism”. The results of the research are the identification of students' values that determine the personal position within the chosen occupation, their relationship to socio-cultural and intercultural interaction, the semantic-value relationship to future professional activities in the tourism and hospitality industry. The paper deals with the professional competencies of specialists in the sphere of hotel services, which are formed in various types of practice-oriented activity, proximate to the professional already at the stage of college/university training. The materials of the paper are of practical use for faculty members of vocational educational institutions, postgraduates, and students.