The purpose of this research is to substantiate the need to develop a professional standard “Management specialist in industries and at enterprises of the agro-industrial complex” to improve the provision of the Russian agro-industrial complex with management personnel. Methods. To achieve this purpose, it is rational to apply analytical and statistical research methods: to analyze the provision of the Russian agro-industrial complex with specialists with economic and managerial competencies, to carry out a comparative analysis of the job responsibilities of managers and chief specialists of agricultural organizations performing the functions of personnel management and production processes, and the content and volume of economic-management training for the agro-industrial complex. Results. The heads of agricultural organizations, their deputies and chief specialists do not always meet the requirements for educational level and possession of economic and managerial competencies. On average, in the system of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, only 66 % of heads of agricultural enterprises have higher education, among the main specialists – 71 %. In the agricultural sector, there is an obvious shortage of managerial personnel, a high proportion of them are without professional education, a large proportion is occupied by employees of retirement age. Training of personnel for the agro-industrial complex is carried out in 54 universities subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia. The number of graduates in the main agricultural areas and specialties trained internally at the expense of the federal budget is more than 19 000 people, but there are only about 6 000 graduates of the specialist and magistracy who have the right to occupy leadership positions. In addition, in the main professional educational programs of personnel for the agro-industrial complex, little study time is allocated for the study of economic and management disciplines, which does not allow the formation of the necessary competencies in graduates to perform the functions of organizing agricultural production. To provide agricultural organizations with personnel with modern economic and management competencies, it is proposed to recommend that agricultural universities, when teaching students in the main specialties of the agricultural profile, determine the list of relevant disciplines, their volume and content in the main professional educational programs in accordance with the labor functions, knowledge and skills specified in the draft professional standard “Specialist in management in industries and enterprises of the agro-industrial complex”.

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The concept of intellectual readiness for learning, which is considered as the main condition for successful education at a university, is defined. Developed competencies of BSc students in training area 35.03.06 “Agro engineering” were analyzed. This analysis demonstrates the importance of knowledge of the basic mathematical and natural laws for solving typical problems and participating in experimental professional research. The role of the “Electrical Materials”course in the development of students’ general professional and specific professional competencies is revealed. The paper presents the research results identifying the relationship between the mental development level, formed in general education, and the success of mastering the “Electrical materials” course. At the same time, knowledge of scientific concepts, the development of the classification mental operation and the ability to perform mental actions by analogy turned out to be determining. According to the results of the research, five groups of students were identified. They differ in the success of the acquisition of knowledge and proximity to the socio-psychological standard. Quantitative and qualitative indicators of their mental development characteristics were also described. The specificity of the relationships between the parameters of intellectual readiness and success in mastering the discipline is described. It is concluded that it is necessary to stimulate the mental development of students in the process of developing professional competencies, taking into account the specific features of the structure of intellectual abilities, improving methods for assessing intellectual readiness.