The article examines the process of formation and improvement of one of the universal competencies - “communicative” (UC-4) at a technical university. Its main content, place and role in vocational education are determined. The emphasis is placed on the fact that the competence “Communication” is formed not by “assimilation” of certain theoretical knowledge, but by their regular application and integration into educational process general matrix, contributing to general professional and professional competencies communicative component formation. New academic discipline “Professional ethics and fundamentals of business communication” is of particular importance for engineering training. This discipline differs from “Psychology of professional communication”, “Business communication”, “Fundamentals of business communication” because communicative competence is formed here through the prism of moral and ethical norms of society and professional ethics Formation of full-fledged communication skills is impossible within the framework of only one academic discipline; therefore, it is recommended to include interdisciplinary connections and extracurricular activities potential. The results of the study confirmed humanitarian training relevance at a technical university and importance of UC-4 for future specialists. The study was conducted at the Kamyshin Technological Institute (branch) of Volgograd State Technical University (KTI VSTU).