Extracurricular activities as a factor of students’ personal development and education (as exemplified by the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education)

Extracurricular activities are an integral part of the educational process of a university. The authors consider extracurricular work as a holistic entity with all the attributes of a system (goal, objectives, functions, structure, content, forms, methods and means). The authors of the paper believe that extracurricular work with students is an important part of education and it is carried out with the aim of creating a system of tools and actions that are responsible for solving urgent problems of education, creating favorable conditions for personal and professional development of university graduates, who should combine deep professional knowledge and skills, high spiritual and moral qualities, be noted for legal and communicative culture, creative self-expression and an active citizenship. The paper discusses extracurricular work features as a factor of students personal development and education, reveals the significance of the problem and suggests solutions. The authors examine the effectiveness of extracurricular activities and analyze the structure of free time of the students of the faculty of foreign languages at Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education, which allows to take a fresh look at the organization of extracurricular work.