Recently we have told you about the Department of Sociology and the Organization of Youth Work at the National Research University "BelSU". Today we want to introduce you to associate professor of this department, Candidate of Sociological Sciences Anastasia Kisilenko.
1) Your studies and teaching activities have always been associated with Belgorod State National Research University. You are a graduate of the Department of State and Municipal Administration. Now you are in charge of the educational programs "Organization of youth work" and "Management in the field of youth policy" in the Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Tell us more about your academic career.
Indeed, it turned out that the university has become for me not only a platform for professional training and personal development, but also a place of interesting, intense, promising work. By my first education I am a manager in the field of public and municipal administration, by my second education I am a sociologist. In 2009 I graduated from Belgorod secondary school with a silver medal. In those years graduates who had such a badge of distinction were allowed to take only one profile exam upon admission to the university. Mathematics was such a subject at Belgorod State University for the SMA specialty. As I remember now, in order to get a high result on the entrance exam, it was necessary to correctly solve various mathematical problems in a certain time interval. I managed to get an excellent grade, I was very happy, because it allowed me to be enrolled in a budget form of education. I was studying for 5 years, graduated with a red diploma and immediately received an offer to work at the Department of Sociology and Organization of Youth Work, which at that time was just allocated to an independent educational and scientific structural unit operating within the institute. Since the formation of the department, I have worked in various academic positions, first as an assistant, then as a senior lecturer, and later took up the position of associate professor.
As for the direction "Organization of youth work", I supervised it from the very beginning, when specialists were still trained according to the old state standards. In 2011 the first year of Bachelor's degree was recruited, and we began to master a new educational model. In 2019 a Master's program was opened within the framework of this direction focusing on organizational and managerial, financial and economic, personnel practices and tools implemented by various entities operating in the youth policy infrastructure of the Belgorod Region. In recent years the opportunities for admission to this field for students after secondary vocational education have been expanded. The main thing that we always adhere to when working on different courses with our students is socialization and networking, organizing their interaction with partner companies, practice orientation, support for student initiatives and creating conditions for secondary employment.
2) In 2018 you received a PhD in Sociology. What was the topic of the dissertation research? Who was the supervisor?
From my personal experience, I can say that it is necessary to consciously approach the choice of a dissertation research topic, since often the topic determines the entire further path, the degree of labor intensity of the work and the prospects for successful defense. The topic of my dissertation research – "Volunteering as a form of self-organization of Russian youth at risk" is very relevant and practically significant so far. Volunteer activity is aimed at streamlining relations between people in the direction of mutual assistance, dedication, mercy, responsiveness and responsibility. The massive volunteer initiatives that we observe every year demonstrate the high capabilities of this resource both in terms of their self-realization and solving various problems and socially significant tasks. It is noteworthy that the year of my defense was declared the Year of the Volunteer in our country. My supervisor, with whom we regularly discuss scientific articles, participate in conferences of various levels, prepare joint publications and projects, monitor current developments and ideas, is a Doctor of Sociology, Head of the Department of Sociology and Organization of Youth Work, Director of the International Center for Sociological Research of the National Research University "BelSU" Inna Shapovalova.
3) You teach such disciplines as "Youth Career Strategies", "Sociology of Management", "Youth worker: organization and technology of personal work", etc. In your opinion, how has the approach to teaching these disciplines changed over the past 5-10 years?
OYW is the choice of people who want to work in a person-to-person system, that is to be flexible, multitasking and be able to find a common language with others. Each of the disciplines you have mentioned is a complex system of knowledge based on a wide range of scientific fields, so the ideas about their content differ from individual teachers who offer their own structure and order of study. I can mention two aspects among the key changes.
Firstly, students learn organizational and managerial methods and technologies for the formation and development of professional competence of employees of the youth policy industry. The relationship between theory and practice is extremely important in the teaching of these disciplines. As the experience of interaction with practicing professionals shows, the applied aspects in the work of a youth specialist are very diverse and can be transformed taking into account external and internal environmental factors. Therefore, it is important to understand lean manufacturing, career supervision, tutoring, coaching, SWOT analysis, the Ishikawa diagram, the bow tie method, goal management technologies, program-target management, risk management and others based on real cases. The list is not limited to this. There are many similar tools within these disciplines.
Secondly, we are talking about multimodal pedagogy, the use of various forms (speech, audio, illustrations, infographics, etc.) which make the process of mastering disciplines more exciting, accessible and inclusive. Maybe it would be worth noting the work in the digital environment, but Belgorod State University has long been mastering online formats based on specialized platforms and accelerators, so I did not focus on this, but it is impossible to underestimate the wide access to such educational services.
4) Your academic interests include the sociology of youth. One of the structural divisions of the University is the International Center for Sociological Research, which includes particularly the Laboratory of Youth Sociology. Are you involved in its activities? What kind of sociological research conducted in recent years would you highlight?
The Center for Sociological Research at the Belgorod University site was opened 10 years ago in 2014. The Center regularly conducts a lot of sociological research on youth topics, various aspects of the activities and problems of regional youth are studied. Most of the research is conducted by young scientists under the guidance of experienced sociologists but the hallmark of the Center is the monitoring of "Social strategies of youth", which was first conducted in 2018 and is currently a sociological support for the activities of the Ministry of Youth Affairs of the Belgorod Region. In addition to its own research, the Center is included in the federal agenda (for example, participation in the Russian Public Opinion Research Center research on the Caring Person platform), participates in interregional collaborations – right now in research initiated by the Southern Federal University on the topic "Russian students: assessments and images of the present and future as the basis for the formation of citizenship and value attitudes".
5) Let's talk about the international activities of the Department of Sociology and the organization of work with youth at the National Research University "BelSU". She cooperates with the Department of Sociology and Social Work of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. How long has the interaction been going on? What joint projects are being implemented?
Integration into the global educational, scientific and cultural space through cooperation with subjects of educational and scientific activities of foreign countries is a priority direction for the development of any university. In the period up to 2022, based on the concluded cooperation agreement between our universities and Centers, quite fruitful work was carried out, primarily related to the organization of academic mobility of students and teachers within the framework of a joint educational program. Joint scientific events have been held and are still being held, where the Kazakh University is a partner (we hold five such events a year – these are four expert conferences and the international online scientific forum "Scientific Results of Sociology"). As part of the preparation of Master's programs, joint research was carried out including a comparative component for our countries. Scientists of our teams are published in journals, and there are joint publications. Definitely, now a lot of practical interaction is difficult, but we do not lose touch, we contact and assist each other whenever possible, therefore we do not cease to consider the Kazakh University as our full partner.
6) The issue of vocational guidance for OYW graduates is extremely important. What advice would you give to boys and girls who are studying in their specialty and have not yet decided in which direction they want to work in this field?
I believe that it is necessary to be lenient towards those who, during their studies, have not yet decided on the direction of their future work, because OYW is a polysubject sphere. It has various structures: state and municipal organizations, educational institutions, leisure and resource centers, social services, public associations, business structures that provide opportunities for youth development. It is not surprising that with such variability it is not easy to make a final choice. Much, of course, depends on the department and the university, which must create conditions for their students, have a shortlist of companies, classes and projects on which to start a student "crusade". However, students should not be afraid to be intrusive in the search for such opportunities, to go there alone, even if they have to do something that they do not yet know or do not understand well. A student will always be able to find like-minded people, friends and figure out what they really want and like to do, expanding their professional horizons.