The role of the university educational environment in forming family values: Russian students’ assessments

The article shows how Russian students assess the role of the university as a socialization institution in strengthening the value of family and in their preparing for marriage, birth and raising children. Based on the results of the sociological study conducted in 2023, the authors consider issues related to the content of the educational process and make some recommendations for its optimization in the context of the state demographic policy. The empirical basis of the study consists of (1) the data of the survey of the Russian student youth from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Irkutsk, Orenburg, Pskov, Krasnodar, Perm and Stavropol (N=719); (2) the results of a series of focus groups with students of the Perm State National Research University (N=36). The article aims at identifying the ideas of Russian students about the influence of the university environment on the formation of family values. According to the students, the university educational environment still focuses on solving educational problems: transferring knowledge and skills required for successful employment of graduates and creating favorable conditions for learning - providing students with dormitories, forming scholarship funds. The authors argue that the measures taken to strengthen family values in universities are still insufficient: the students rate the lowest such conditions as taking into account the marital status of graduates when distributing them to workplaces, the availability of psychological and medical services, and the use of different formats for discussing family and childbearing issues. At the same time, some universities update and strengthen the guidelines for maintaining a balance between educational and upbringing activities related to family values. The authors make a conclusion that it is necessary to further improve educational-methodological, organizational, infrastructural and other conditions for maintaining a family-friendly environment at the university.