Mentors and social formation of student youth

The institute of mentoring is well developed in Western countries. In the Soviet Union, it also received sufficient development in industrial enterprises, as well as in the pedagogical sphere. Both in Soviet times and now, mentoring, which has proven itself positively in the field of professional activity, was poorly or not used at all and is not being used for general and vocational education by young people. At the same time, there is an acute need of young people in social formation, including both everyday communication with peers, parents and teachers, and personal, professional development and self-realization. In modern scientific literature, the problems of mentoring in the pedagogical environment are presented in a variety of ways and the issues concerning the mentor as an agent of socialization and an assistant in the construction of social relations among students are almost completely not covered. In order to ascertain the needs of students in mentors and their functions, a sociological online survey was carried out using a questionnaire. The sample size amounted to more than 500 students of Volgograd universities, boys and girls, studying in different courses of bachelor's and master's degree programs. The results showed the relevance of the problem, its awareness and demand of the respondents, especially in the direction of orientation in modern society, personal and professional self-realization and maintaining motivation.