EUROPEAN VALUES AS LANDMARKS FOR UKRAINIAN STUDENTS

Abstract

Abstract. Today, our country has made its civilized choice, which has become a strategic reference point for the aspirations of most Ukrainians – integration into the European Union. Historical experience shows that the strength of Europe depends on the inviolability of the basic European values that have a united potential, because their unity is the value basis for European nations, regardless of cultural traditions and national identity. Therefore, in the context of understanding that the student youth is as an important social resource of Ukraine, the problem how to form a set of values inherent to Europeans in particular, is the most topical from a prognostic point of view. Based on the analysis of the results of empirical and sociological research, we have identified the dynamics and peculiarities of the influence of various political, social and economic factors on the formation of European values in the student youth, taking into account the transformations taking place in the life of modern Ukraine – the country, which has chosen the European integration vector of development. The results of the study indicate that the consciousness of Ukrainian students is often dominated by the values of personal well-being (health, success, prosperity, happy family, etc.) and paternalistic direction (high-quality free education and medicine, sufficient pensions, social benefits, job security, economic stability, etc.). At the same time, modern students support the implementation of democratic principles and wish to be part of the process of building a European democracy in Ukraine. True European values and worldview are recognized as a lofty ideal to follow, a necessary condition for the effective functioning of a democratic society. The study confirmed that most students strongly support the integration of Ukraine into the European Union (over 76 %). Therefore, there are all the preconditions that the current students will soon become the main driving force behind the reforms and the implementation of the principles and values shared by the European community – Ukrainian «ambassadors» of its kind in all the spheres of European social, economic and political life.