The article presents the study results of students’ involvement in the transformation and development of intra-group interaction in the process of mastering an educational program. The key tool is students’ project work aimed at solving significant educational problems. Project management in the educational program is based on distributed leadership. However, based on the results of surveys, interviews, and product analysis of students ’project activities, the problem of students’ unwillingness to interact in the project group is revealed. The study purpose is to identify the impact of student engagement on the development of intra-group interaction in project groups. The correlation analysis has shown that students’ lack of readiness for interaction correlates with a low level of their involvement in project activity, which leads to the process formalisation and project activity results. The solution to this problem gives the educational program competitive advantages due to the formation of students’ competencies of interaction in project groups and distributed leadership.