English STUDENTS' DEMOCRATIC VALUES FORMATION – A GUARANTEE OF HIGHER EDUCATION QUALITY

Abstract

Today's student youth is a supporter of democratic changes and, consequently, of democratic values. However, the contradictory nature of modern values and the student community diversity necessitate the strengthening of purposeful influence on their awareness, which should be fulfilled in the context of freedom as a universal factor in personal development.
 The purpose of our study is the necessity to form democratic values of student youth and the priority ways of this process in the context of educational activities as part of the success of training in higher education institutions. Special attention should be paid to such priorities of medical university students, which are established not only at the semantic, organizational, functional, communicative levels of the educational process, but also through macro- and microenvironment, mass media, Internet technologies, as well as extracurricular activities of higher educational institutions, which includes the activities of student youth in self-government organizations, clubs, volunteering.
 Democratic values embody the importance of democracy as a worldview ideal, its attractiveness to most people, the reason why democracy is worth defending, making it an element of the political consciousness of millions of citizens and gaining new supporters around the world.
 Core values include freedom, responsibility, solidarity, dignity, constitutional state, parliamentary democracy, and justice. The above-mentioned values are guaranteed by fundamental, political, cultural, or social rights and freedoms.
 The list of democratic values is especially relevant during democracy formation, which is accompanied by a change in society, the creation of a new social ideal based on democratic values, and the development of educational activities. It is especially relevant to involve broad sections of the population – parents, teachers, government officials – to main democracy ideas understanding: freedom and responsibility, human rights and the ability to defend them, the involvement of every citizen in social processes, and social justice.
 Education is a process on which the future of the nation depends. In addition, a well-planned educational process is a necessary condition for its quality, which involves teachers, educational technologies, methods, tools (visual aids, textbooks, technical devices, etc.), educational management. The higher medical institution provides general cultural and professionally oriented students' training, determines the amount of special knowledge, skills, and abilities sufficient to solve typical tasks of a doctor, including the ability to use theoretical knowledge and practical skills, provide medical care, and assess the impact of disease development factors.
 Of particular importance in this process are the extracurricular activities in higher education institutions, which include youth work in student organizations: student parliament, student union, student scientific society, society of young scientists, European Medical Student Association, Dental Students Association.
 Such organizations contribute to the readiness of future specialists to work in modern conditions, their socialization, development, democratic values.