Social Engagement of Students as a Trigger for the Intellectual Capital in Universities

The article examines the potential of Russian students to engage them in social activities in the university environment. Youth movement as an organized practice is quite familiar for Russian universities. The youth organization Komsomol (Young Communist League) was widespread across the Soviet Union. In recent years, Russian government with new power supports different forms of student engagement using a non-profit sector. The main problem which we consider in this article is the variety of forms of students' social activity. In our opinion, some collective forms of social activity could become an important condition which is essential for the development of the intellectual capital of universities. Certain kinds of students' activities as an engagement develop personal and professional potential of youth, create a field for the development of socio-productive and personal-professional relationships in universities. The university sphere is not only an intellectually capacious sector, but also the center of the social activity. In this paper we analyze results of national representative online survey of students (2015; N=930, accidental sample). We polled students of all federal universities and leading universities from 14 Russian regions. All respondents are members of thematic communities in different social networks, which unites active young people, young men and women who took part in various mass youth programs and projects. Key research question was: What structures of social interaction or social relations inside the universities affect the development of scientific activity of students? The results of factor analysis let the authors study the experience of social activity of students; in other words, their engagement in activity of different non-commercial organizations. We have found that those students who were engaged in activity of university's internal community organizations are more inclined to scientific work. Such socially active students most likely won't leave home university and continue their educational or scientific activity.