Higher education institution as an institutional agent of legal awareness development

The study analyzes the structural and functional features of legal awareness development. The authors focus on legal awareness of law students because this segment of the population chooses lawmaking as their future career. Based on sociological study results, a high level of legal nihilism is revealed among the students. The situation is complicated by the fact that the institution of education is not the primary agent of legal socialization. In order to create the educational environment for legal awareness development in law students, the authors designed the educational model based on personal and activity approach. This model consists of target, content-related, instrumental, monitoring and evaluative components of activity. The students and the academic staff play the special role in the above-mentioned model. The content-related component of the psychological and educational model of legal awareness development includes the faculty, the process of gaining legal knowledge, legal education, regular monitoring of the level of legal awareness. In conclusion, the authors provide measures to increase the role of the higher education institution as an agent of legal socialization.