Research activity as a principal factor of students’ research competence formation

The transition of the national education system to a competence approach has shifted the emphasis from knowledge and skills to acquisition of competences by students. The author considers a research competence to be of an enormous importance in the swiftly developing innovational economy. The article discusses definitions of competence, competency, and reviews variants of these conceptions in the current science. The author also analyzes changeover of the modern education, reflecting change of the educational paradigm, transition from the teaching-based education to the learning-based one.