╘ Kyrychok, Andrii , 2017

Future Human Image. Volume 7, 2017 71

The Main Determinants of Improvement of Model of Educational Training of Specialists in the Field of PR Based on Competency Approach by Andrii Kyrychok

resolution of professional problems, possession of the latest information technologies, the ability to continuously update the existing system of knowledge are the most important and effective.

Competency approach involves the willingness and desire of a man to apply his knowledge, skills and personal qualities in a certain field of professional activity [Baydenko, 2004].

Competency approach in educational activities is an important direction to ensure a close correlation between education and employers, as well as the direction of unification, on the one hand, the requirements of employers to future experts, and on the other - a means to develop educational programs for individual specializations of one discipline. Even as we speak, leading companies, government bodies, when developing demands on staff, describing requirements for certain categories of workers, widely use the concept of competencies, develop and implement the so-called "profile (or model) of competencies", a set of competencies, i.e. knowledge, skills and personal qualities necessary for successful professional activity [Bolotov, 2003].

The most important indicators of the quality of acquired knowledge throughout the learning process are professional qualities of experts, formed on the basis of personal qualities in the information and communication sector, including the field of public relations, which involve consistent and analytic thinking, creativity, communicativeness, ability to teamwork, ability to use knowledge, skills and practical skills to analyse the situation and foresee its development, including the cases of complicated and unforeseen situations, the availability of rhetoric skills, including written and oral communication, negotiation, work with print and electronic media, social media and other communication channels of digital society, possession of the full range of Internet technologies, conducting special events, creation of promotional product of commercial or social orientation. The analysis of all these indicators allows us to draw a conclusion about deep relationship and interdependence between them [Saunders, 1998].

Here is a list of skills the PR-specialist should possess (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. The list of required competencies for PR-specialist

As we can see, the figure shows a wide range of competencies from various fields of knowledge. This is not the whole list of branches, to which the field of public relations is coherent. PR-specialist is versatile and he constantly develops new skills from other disciplines, because without such a development his professional level will fall. The main requirement for the student during study is to acquire the ability to learn. We emphasize that PR-specialist should constantly improve his skills [Fiske, 2014].

72 Future Human Image. Volume 7, 2017

The Main Determinants of Improvement of Model of Educational Training of Specialists in the Field of PR Based on Competency Approach by Andrii Kyrychok

The aim of this article is to analyse the peculiarities of the formation of educational training programs according to three-level system by virtue of competency approach.

In the course of the work two tasks were performed: we carried out the comparative and content analysis of educational training programs in the field of PR and considered the ways to integrate this experience into domestic programs.

Literature review

It should be noted that today specialists of educational and scientific sphere and practitioners hold discussions about what character exactly should the training program in the field of PR-education have, including what nature the discipline content should have. Many of these professionals pay attention to the fact that a single international standard of education should be developed. Experts from many countries have already tried to improve the system of training in this area [Azarova, 2003; Ferrari, 2009; Ferreira, 2004; L"Etang, 2002; Pirozek, 2003; Sriramesh, 2002; Toth, 2010; Zhang, 2010; Zlateva, 2003]. In 2008, the University of Leeds [Tench, 2008] conducted the study of public relations programs around the world to form a unified standard of training in this area. Then, in 2009 an online survey of members of "Euprera" organization regarding programs of basic and full higher education was carried out [Cotton, 2009]. From this perspective, analysis of web sites and conduction of qualitative interviews of East European University [Watson, 2014], as well as study of the development of education in public relations in some countries seem to be very interesting [Goncalves, 2009; Xifra, 2007].

During the research, we pursued the objective to compare educational training programs for public relations in different countries and in the domestic training system. In the study, we relied on document analysis and content analysis to obtain statistically accurate survey data. Since recently we have implemented three-level education system, the research was conducted on the basis of three-level paradigm. That is why, for the analysis, we chose programs of "Bachelor", "Master" and "Doctor of Philosophy" degrees, which train specialists in public relations. 37 training programs of "Master" degree and 35 training programs of "Bachelor" degree were analysed. Considering that training system for "Doctor of Philosophy" degree is a new format for the domestic education system, we analysed five foreign training programs for "Doctor of Philosophy" degree in order to establish their discipline filling, content and duration. Data received will be used in the future to improve the national training system for public relations and to develop educational training program for "Doctor of Philosophy" degree. The investigation was aimed to carry out a comparative analysis of the programs in terms of repeatability of professionally oriented, social, and human disciplines and general credit load for each discipline separately; to determine optimal credit load for each discipline, based on the evidence found.

Research methodology

Studies of education programs of all three levels were carried out in several stages. On the first stage a comparative analysis of Bachelor and Master Education programs of the US, Europe, Ukraine and Russia on similarities of disciplinary and credit components was conducted. They were based on subjects of domestic educational and professional programs of "Bachelor" and "Master" degrees. The data was tabulated.