FEATURES OF THE VALUE-SEMANTIC SPHERE OF STUDENTS WITH DIFFERENT PROFESSIONAL DIRECTIONS

Introduction. In youth, the formation and transformation of the value-meaning sphere take place, which determines the formation of the personality as a whole. This age period of life has the necessary prerequisites for such a restructuring, namely: further improvement of conceptual thinking, moral and ethical experience, a certain social position, expansion of the circle of communication, assimilation, andtransformation of the historical experience of society, mastering various forms of behavior, etc. Self- determination of an individual is also closely related to the formation of a value system, the need to form a semantic system, in which the central place is occupied by the problem of the meaning of life, as well as the orientation of the individual to the future. Purpose. The article aims to analyze the psychological features of the value-meaning sphere of higher education applicants who have different professional orientations. Methods. To solve the set empirical tasks, the following was used: the «Morphological test of life values « by V. F. Sopov and L. V. Karpushina for the study of the value structure of an individual; the «Value orientations « test by M. Rokych for the study of the hierarchy of value orientations; «Test of meaningful life orientations « by D. O. Leontiev for the study of meaningful life orientations. Methods of mathematical statistics: Student's T-test, Wilcoxon's T-test. Results. It is proved that terminal values do not differ significantly; instrumental values and meaningful life orientations have significant differences. For students of education with a humanitarian professional orientation, the following are important: an active life position, openness to the world and society, independence, the presence of stable beliefs, high self-esteem, the desire for achievements and public recognition in the field of activity that is significant for a person; and also ‒ harmonious educational, family and social relations. For applicants with a technical professional orientation, the following are important: professional activity, physical education, and family life. At the same time, they are characterized by: conformism, conservatism, the rigidity of behavior and activity, and closeness to other people. Among the instrumental values for those seeking education with a humanitarian orientation, the following are more significant: high requests; intolerance to shortcomings in oneself and others; courage in defending one's opinion; business efficiency. For applicants with a technical focus: education; education; responsibility; liberality. That is, most of the terminal values of students and cadets coincide. Values-means of achieving goals differ to a greater extent among students and cadets, that is, even in the presence of similar goals, the means to achieve them are chosen differently. Originality. Research of the value-semantic sphere of higher education seekers with the different professional orientations. Conclusion. The study showed the presence of significant differences. Further research is needed to clarify the issue of whether the professional orientation of the individual is the very factor that determines the development and transformation of the value and meaningful orientations of the individual in the process of studying at a higher education institution.