Problems and optimization conditions of students'' Professional identity development (the practice of Smolensk State University)

the article discusses the actions taken by higher education institutions to develop the readiness for professional self-determination and professional choice among students, as well as the conditions for optimization of this process. The proposed conclusions are based on: regulatory framework for the activities of higher education institutions on career guidance; the analysis of career guidance activities in the Russian regions based on the statistics of 2010−2015; the data of the author's experimental research in 2006−2013 at educational institutions of the Smolensk region. The significance of the problem is determined by the lack of demand for young graduates in the job market, which results from unsystematic and inconsistent activities of educational institutions, employers, employment services and public authorities responsible for personal and professional development of young people. The article discusses the concept of «students' professional identity development». The authors draw attention to the work of centres for promotion of university graduates’ employment as an institutional framework for the development of career guidance work at higher education institutions. The article also reveals the comparative characteristics and content of the centers’ activities. The authors analyze the place of students in the sphere of professional identity development and the readiness of university instructors to support it. The paper considers the specific features of the Smolensk State University social partnership in the field of career guidance at different levels of continuing education. It also outlines the conditions for the effectiveness of professional self-determination of young people. The authors present collaboration between universities and secondary schools on professional identity development of high school students as well as universities’ initiative on that as the prerequisites for the optimization of career guidance process.