Features of leadership in the student group: sociological and psychological aspects

The article studies the problem of leadership among students. Special attention is paid to the development of student’s leadership abilities of the University, features of their formation and the role in the process of self-actualization. The authors present an outcome analysis of a pilot study conducted in the spring of 2018 at the Department of psychology and pedagogy of Ulyanovsk State University in the preparation of graduate qualification work. The empirical base for the study were the 3rd year students (bachelor), studying at the faculty of Humanities and Social technologies in the areas of training: "Sociology", "Political Science" and "Organization of work with Young people". The study reveals the qualities peculiar to the "portrait of a student leader"; the structure of leadership in a student group; the possibility of its disintegration into "emotional" and "business" components; the existence of the connection between the structure of interpersonal relations in the student community and the level of leadership development. The paper shows that there is a particular set of qualities peculiar to the leader of a student group. Lidership structure includes emotional and business aspects, as well as situational and cross functional components. However, the authors did not reveal the meaningful connection between the level of leadership development and the structure of interpersonal relations.