Engineering Centre as Innovative Component of Professional Training of Future IT Specialists.................90 Slabin U. K. Knowledge and Perception of Eponyms in Chemistry by University Students in Belarus and the United States

Introduction. Nowadays, digital transformation of higher vocational education brings to the agenda questions about the ways and forms, which are adequate to the current state of society and the tasks of innovative development of the economy, to train specialists in the areas related to information and communication technologies (specialists of IT areas). One of the ways to solve the problem can be an active interaction of teaching staff and students with the engineering centres created at universities as points of effective application, development and commercialisation of new technologies.The aim of the present article was to analyse the process of approbation and obtained preliminary results of the preparation of bachelors of IT-directions on the basis of interaction between the pedagogical staff of Tula State University named after Lev Tolstoy (TSPU L. N. Tolstoy) and the university engineering centre “Digital Means of Production”.Methodology and research methods. The systematic and competency-based approaches became the leading approaches to the study of the problem under discussion. The authors applied the methods of socio-historical and theoretical-methodological analysis, modelling, studying and summarising the advanced Russian and foreign experience of educational organisations. In the course of approbation of innovative methods of training, interviews, questionnaires, testing and pedagogical experiment were carried out.Results and scientific novelty. The scientific and methodological support of organisational interaction between the TSPU L. N. Tolstoy and the engineering centre “Digital Means of Production” is briefly described in the article. The tasks and principles of this interaction are formulated: the principle of activity; the consolidation of efforts of interested parties with the defining position of the university; the correlation of the objects of professional activity and types of professional tasks designed for students with the requirements of the main educational programme; the scientific character and information-methodological support; ensuring the information security of a personality when addressing the research tasks and creating intellectual products. The efficiency and prospects of interaction between an educational organisation and a commercial structure, which is engaged in advancement and implementation of scientific and technological projects, is demonstrated. Through students’ involvement (as a part of group of its developers) in the entire cycle of production of a programme product, the following results are achieved: education of bachelors of the IT directions has gained more practice-focused character; students’ motivation to implementation of scientific research has been increased; additional resources for development and skills of teamwork have appeared; the level of readiness of graduates for the future professional activity has been considerably increased. The pedagogical experiment revealed cause-and-effect relations between participation of students in the solution of real practical engineering tasks and the level of formation of their professional competencies, which are in short supply in the labour market.The practical significance of the present research work lies in the potential possibilities of using the obtained data to improve the forms and methods for the formation of professional competencies among bachelors of IT areas in universities. Research materials may be of interest to university teachers of informatics and software engineering, Moreover, the research materials could be applied by the heads of professional education organisations.