Integration of engineering education and business education as a driver of the development of national economies of post-soviet countries

Abstract

The article is based on the analysis of sociological data from a survey carried out within the framework of the BRFFR-SFFRU international research project entitled The integration of engineering and business educa- tion in technical universities of Ukraine and Belarus as a factor of national economic development. The research demonstrates a high level of motivation and readiness of students specializing in engineering in National Technical University of Ukraine Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (Kiev) and Belorussian National Technical University (Minsk) to engage in industrial entrepreneurship. The study convincingly proves that the technical students of the former Soviet countries can be a social base for the transition to a market-based innovation economy subject to the integration of engineering education and business education in technical universities for the training of entrepreneur-engineer (such integration already exists in Western countries). Taking into account the relevant international experience, it is argued that there is a high need for training an engineer-entrepreneur in the former Soviet countries, since this is a key social figure in the commercialization of technical creativity – a global trend launched in Western countries during the development of industrial capitalism and grounded in the concept of innovative economy by a famous Austrian-American economist J.Schumpeter.