The specificity of adaptation of future engineers to pandemic conditions on labor market: A gender perspective

Abstract

The paper is based on the advance studies of the adaptation of MADI students, future engineers, to the conditions of a forced pandemic associated with the COVID-19 virus. At the first stage of the study (spring 2020), using the content analysis method, the main directions of adaptation and the patterns of future engineers were identified: educational activity, social responsibility, social communication, financial constraints that arose during the period of a sharp change in learning activity, and also the specificity of changes in the place and living conditions, including moving to another region of Russia. At the second stage (spring 2021), using the semi-formalized interview method, a survey of students of the same technical university was conducted about the difficulties faced by boys and girls at the beginning of the pandemic, based on the previously identified directions of adaptation. The results of the study have shown a gender difference in understanding the difficulties of forced adaptation to the conditions of a modern pandemic: girls adapted better to school. The specificity of gender adaptation will help to predict the behavior of graduates of technical universities on labor market in the future.