The global economic environment is becoming more active and complex. Technological and social changes affect the internal processes of companies associated with the diversification of production, the introduction of new lines of products and services, the modernization of business processes. In this article, the authors present the results of a study into the ways ten large industrial companies (fuel, chemical and petrochemical, food industry, defence industry and agricultural technology) in the Omsk region develop domestic internal entrepreneurship. As a result of narrative interviews with HR directors of the selected companies, the authors formulated two approaches to the development of internal entrepreneurship. The first method is based on the development of a creative environment that stimulates the generation of initiatives to improve business. The second method involves companies implementing business projects through employee development programs. The advantages and disadvantages of both methods are subsequently highlighted. The conclusions draw attention to the problems of the development of internal entrepreneurship within large industrial companies and the need to create a special environment and infrastructure to promote the business initiatives of employees.

The role of universities in the development of entrepreneurship is increasing. Within this context, universities are introducing specialized programs and disciplines aimed at developing students’ innovative and entrepreneurial competencies. This article presents the results of a comparative analysis of the level of development of students’ entrepreneurial competencies in Russia and the Czech Republic. To implement the key task, the authors analysed approaches to the classification of entrepreneurial competencies. On the basis of relevance and objectivity, the authors selected the EntreComp classification from 2016, which subsequently formed the basis for the developed methodological tools for the empirical research. The method was tested in three universities in the Russian Federation and one in the Czech Republic. The total number of participants was 436. The results of the analysis of the entrepreneurial competencies revealed significant statistical differences between the respondents from the two countries for 10 out of 15 evaluated competencies. At the same time, 68% of respondents in the Russian Federation and 64% in the Czech Republic were found to have an advanced level of development of one entrepreneurial competence. This fact is indicative of the similarity of the vast majority of the final results for the respondents from both countries and confirms the hypothesis that most students participating in the test did not have a lower than average level of competence development. The results of the study may be of interest to scientists and practitioners who study the assessment and development of entrepreneurial competencies in students and specialists.

Introduction. Recently, university teachers have faced the task to develop not only professional knowledge, skills and abilities, but also universal and supra-professional competencies. The comprehensive development of university students influences the formation of a specialist’s personality, ensures his/her adaptability and resistance to the challenges of the external environment, the graduate’s readiness to demonstrate high performance indicators in the chosen field of activity. Among the supra-professional competencies, a separate cluster of entrepreneurial competencies can be distinguished, which ensure the deployment of commercial thinking and are the driver of the development of the state’s economy. Meanwhile, in some publications there are a number of facts, which illustrate the gender differences in entrepreneurship in the world. Official statistics demonstrate the relevance of the development of women’s entrepreneurship in the economies of countries. The prevailing number of studies is carried out among students enrolled in entrepreneurship training programmes. However, the indicators of the development of entrepreneurial competencies of students of non-core specialties (future human resource management specialists), taking into account the gender factor, have not been studied enough.The aim of the present research was to answer the question about the presence of a gender gap in the development of entrepreneurial competencies among university students enrolled in the training direction “Personnel Management” in the Russian Federation and the Czech Republic.Methodology and research methods. The methodological framework of the current research is based on the behavioural approach to the study of competencies, which suggests that success in professional activity is favoured by a high level of development. The literary analysis of relevant empirical studies was conducted to choose a research method and to develop a methodology for competencies assessment. The review makes it possible to assess the level of knowledge of the problem of gender differences in entrepreneurial competencies of university students at the international level. The empirical part of the work was attended by N = 582 students (n1 = 291 people of the Czech Republic (Ceske Budejovice), n2 = 291 people of the Russian Federation (Ekaterinburg), among them women – 70.1% n1, 74.2% n2 and men – 29.9% n1, 25.8% n2. Testing was carried out using the authors’ methodology “Assessment of Entrepreneurial Competencies of Students” for the 15 most important competencies in the field of entrepreneurship, which are associated with the manifestation of initiative, management of resources and people, decision-making and active action.The data obtained were processed using descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, t-statistics.Results and scientific novelty. It is shown that the development of participants’ entrepreneurial competencies does not have a direct correlation with the gender of the respondents. When assessing the potential of women’s entrepreneurship, the opinion of society is influenced by the stereotyping of ideas about it as a traditionally masculine type of activity, while the development of these competencies in the university takes place without highlighting significant gender differences. Moreover, in a number of cases, women have higher indicators in the analysed range of competencies in comparison with men. We assume that gender does not have a decisive role in the implementation of business initiatives but there may be other factors: the environment, including the educational environment of the university, personal characteristics and motivation of a person.Practical significance. The research findings are expected to contribute to the debate on entrepreneurial competencies and provide useful data to be employed in learning with a focus on the development of internal entrepreneurship.

This article analyzes the relationship between the requirements for the development of specialists’ supra-professional competencies in the service activities, imposed by the dynamics development of the service economy, and the students’ opinions about the importance of their development at the university. The methodological basis of the research includes the theoretical concepts of competence management and the service economy. The main method of the research is a comparative analysis of data from a students’ survey of the International Institute of Design and Service regarding the importance, self-assessment and opportunities for developing the specialists’ supra-professional competencies on the labor market. The authors have also applied the theoretical research methods (analysis, synthesis, specification, generalization, method of analogies), the methods of graphical presentation of the results and the mathematical statistics. The authors present a model of the specialist’ supra-professional competencies in the service economy, which has formed the basis for the development of the empirical part of the study. As a result, the authors have confirmed the hypothesis of lower self-esteem indicators in comparison with the students’ opinion on the importance of developing pre-professional competencies in the labor market. The revealed fact does not depend on the presence of students of a sample of current employment. It is established that there are statistically significant differences in the students’ opinions on the importance and the possibilities of developing the supra-professional competencies at the university. The authors make a conclusion about the need to increase attention to the development of the supra-professional competencies, the list of which is supposed to be supplemented with socio-emotional and digital competencies that are important for the effective activity of the graduates in the digital service environment.

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