RESEARCH OF STUDENTS' ORIENTATIONS REGARDING INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to identify and compare the essential characteristics of migration attitudes among Ukrainian and Polish students, and to outline trends in their development in the future. Methodology. The subjects of the research are students of various courses and specialties of the Lviv National Environmental University and the University of Life Sciences in Lublin (Poland). To collect empirical information, an online survey was conducted in October 2023, with 187 Ukrainian and 187 Polish students (n=374) participating. The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions, the results of which will be analysed in this study. The survey results showed that students of both higher education institutions have a rather positive attitude towards international migration processes, both women and men. Possible manifestations of student mobility can be seen as a fact that characterises the social role of modern students. Practical implications. The work is a study of young people's attitudes to migration, i.e., it is prospective, not retrospective. Such research can be extremely useful for the development of an effective socio-economic policy of the country. Since the research results reflect the moods of young people, they cannot claim to be highly predictive. However, a vision of what might happen if people's hypothetical aspirations were to become reality can be a powerful argument for politicians and statesmen in developing migration-related policies, both now and in the future. Value/Originality. Survey data from different age groups of students at two universities allow for a better understanding of their attitudes towards migration, immigration, and mobility and a comparison of these indicators in a peaceful country and in times of war. Possible manifestations of student mobility should be seen as a fact that characterises the social role of modern students. The problem, however, is that there are currently no effective mechanisms for managing these processes. There are also no mechanisms capable of ensuring the systemic effectiveness of communication links between different actors at the intercultural level, with the possibility of meeting their socio-cultural, professional and material needs in the process of socialisation of modern youth, as well as for the adequate reproduction of the intellectual potential of society as a whole. However, student emigration cannot be viewed exclusively from a negative perspective, as a "brain drain", although it is obvious that if students who study and work abroad do not return, the country loses part of its intellectual potential (Adamic, Dyachuk, 2023; Tokar, 2022). If to consider the return and emigration not as a purely territorial movement of students, but as a movement of intellectual resources, one can identify a positive trend: significant intellectual potential in the form of ideas, technologies and professional knowledge is returning to the country.