The significance of humanities knowledge in the construction of the modern university student's identity

There are some trends in modern Russian higher education which have an effect on the student's identity. They include: the shift of the educational paradigm and the transition from profession-oriented education to the formation of competencies; difficulties with the self-determination of graduates; change of "professor-student" relations under the influence of information technology for learning and teaching and reduction of the humanitarian component in education. This article aims to substantiate the importance of humanitarian knowledge in the construction of the modern student's identity. The authors' understanding of identity is based on the idea of communication and the principle of "Matryoshka". This means that identity is formed and manifested in communication and has the structure of a nest-doll (from the personal to civilization). The authors refer the student's identity to the micro-social level, which is formed on the grounds of belonging. It provides the first level of social identification and means existence of common identification parameters, i.e. qualities that its members have a priori. For the student, such qualities are the readiness to increase their intellectual capital, the ability to adapt quickly to new social and professional conditions, the focus on self-development and self-improvement, the ability to build relationships based on respect, openness and tolerance. All these abilities are related to general cultural and personal competencies or the so-called soft skills. The need for such skills arises not only in response to the external environment, e.g. socio-cultural situation, labor market challenges, but is an intestinal necessity of students themselves. These competencies are formed in the process of humanitarian knowledge deepening and social practice. Humanitarian knowledge in its essence introduces students to the values of culture and respect for cultural heritage and promotes the development of creative abilities and thinking, project activity skills, the ability to communicate in accordance with the principle of cultural awareness. In addition, humanitarian knowledge helps to overcome negative manifestations of student identity, such as excessive dependence on gadgets and the "Zuckerberg galaxy". In this case, humanitarian knowledge (philosophy, history, cultural studies) supports identity at higher levels of the "Matryoshka" identification: meso- and macro-social, i.e. ethno-cultural and civil.

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