Educational work in DSU is a single process of interaction and cooperation of teachers and students, joint creative activities to develop skills to make decisions, solve complex professional problems, make morally informed choices.
The main challenge in the field of educational work with students in DSU is to create conditions for their active life, civil self-determination and self-realization, meeting their needs in intellectual, cultural and moral development.
The main directions of educational work in DSU are the following:
• organization of student government;
• maintaining and developing the national traditions, including through the introduction of innovative methods of exposition activities and work of the museum complex at the university;
• creating the conditions for updating the research capacity of students (including student youth conferences on scientific, cultural and social issues of our time);
• creating incentives for self-development of students by improving the infrastructure of intellectual creativity;
• improving conditions for creativity and development of students' artistic creativity;
• promoting healthy lifestyles, creating incentives for sports;
• strengthen and expand delivery of multidisciplinary counseling to students;
• developing a set of measures for primary prevention of drug abuse and HIV infection among students;
• creation and development of methodological framework for the activities of the student profile groups;
• creation and support of student clubs and other forms of mass cultural, educational, sports and recreation activities;
• development of programs creating an information space that facilitates the implementation of various forms of youth cooperation, including international.
In DSU there are all conditions for the extracurricular activities with students: the targets for the installation of educational work and development of personality are established, the concept of educational work is developed, administrative structure responsible for educational activities (Office for Education and Social Work) is set, besides, there are active student government bodies and the trade union committee, effectively using the material-technical base.
The Board of Curators, composed of skilled teachers with extensive experience in the education of youth, carries out educational work at each faculty. Each year the curatorial team is supplemented by young specialists – University teachers, willing to try their hand in the difficult role of the curator of an academic group.
Educating young people is a fascinating and at the same time a very time-consuming process that requires of a teacher not only a great desire, patience and time, but also considerable knowledge of pedagogy and psychology of students. Curators cooperate closely with the service of psychological help "Psi Factor" serving at the Department of Psychology. Together with leading experts in the field of psychology and pedagogy, an educational and methodical complex called "Innovative Technologies of the educational process in higher education" was designed for faculty training. The scientific library of the University provides significant assistance to the curators in their work.
For the purpose of forming a highly moral and spiritually developed individual, a debating club operates in DSU. The purpose of the club is to develop leadership qualities and skills to conduct the debate.
A good and long-standing tradition of DSU is the intellectual game "Brain Ring", which unites the faculties and educational institutions. The number of teams and institutions participating in the game grows every year, indicating its all-embracing nature and the extent of intellectual combat.
Education of socially active students, carried out in the system of civic and patriotic education in DSU, is the most important direction of development of students' citizenship, respect for human rights and freedom, love of country, family, forming a patriotic and national identity, thus ensuring a close relationship of higher education with socio-economic and spiritual transformation in the Republic of Dagestan and in the country as a whole.
For this purpose, the university signed agreements with museums, the National Theatre, the Russian Drama Theatre, Opera and the Ballet Theatre, the Philharmonic for leading excursions, visiting plays, operas, ballets and concerts of classical music. The development of cultural values makes students proud of our talented people and enriches their personality.
Formation of the sense of justice and in a student is a complex and long process that requires the collective creativity of the University staff, readiness, willingness and ability of each to struggle for the strengthening of social discipline and order, with the elimination of negative phenomena in the life of the university and society at large. Legal education in DSU is a coherent and systematic impact on young people with the purpose of formation and development of legal culture. In develop in students the sense of justice, a system of civil legal education of students was established at the University.
The formation of moral consciousness and high moral qualities of a person occupies a special place in the educational work, therefore the activity the University staff is aimed at developing and implementing common standards, principles, ideals, which are used as criteria for moral evaluation of students. Moral Education at the University is a rather complex process due to the fact that the moral character of many applicants is predetermined by family traditions that are considered to be a crucial factor in shaping young people's personality.
In Dagestan State University a serious work is carried out with students to reveal the essence of ideology of religious and political extremism and to develop measures for combating this evil, to identify the causes and conditions conducive to the spread of extremism, to interact with the state authorities, local government and civil society in the fight against extremism.
For this purpose, Dagestan State University attracts representatives of various organizations to participate in activities for terrorism prevention and ideological resistance to political extremism. An active work is carried out together with the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Dagestan (SBMD) for the spiritual and moral improvement of our society. At each faculty of DSU representatives of SBMD conduct educational work with students.
The University has made every effort to generate ideology and practice of ethno-religious cooperation, spiritual and cultural unity, patriotism, respect for history, culture, traditions and religions of the peoples of Russia. The issue of preventing inter-ethnic extremism is widely discussed in the debate clubs, departments and competitions on knowledge of national traditions. The experts from the Center for Aesthetics, whose main task is to educate students in the spirit of national traditions, are invited to the university.
The students of DSU take an active part in the actions, organized annually by DSU in cooperation with the Department of Federal Service monitoring narcotic abuse of Dagestan Republic under the slogan "Youth against drugs", "We are for the future without drugs", "Health of youth is wealth of Dagestan", "City without Drugs».
Staff and students of DSU have always taken an active part in the All-Russia competitions of scientific works in the field of drug prevention and drug-related crime, promotion of healthy lifestyles, as well as national competitions of programs aimed at preventing drug abuse, organized by the Committee on Youth Policy of RD, have won prizes and received diplomas
At the University there is a Student Club which serves the function of cultural and humanitarian education of students, developing their creativity, familiarizing students to various forms of activity in the arts, developing respect for the history and culture and improving students’ leisure. At the Club students can spend their leisure time, visiting a variety of amateur clubs.
The Student Club today is not just clubs and classes, endless rehearsals and concerts. The Student Club is a way of students` continuous self-perfection, the opportunity to find their unique way, express themselves and sometimes make the most important choice in life, which is to find a business of one’s life. It's a whole world, which helps students find not only the friends and mentors, but also to find a proactive stance, confidence in action.
The university has created all necessary conditions to reveal sports potential of students. The DSU Athletic Club named after Asiyatilov, founded in 2000, is aimed at joining students and university staff in physical culture and sport, inculcating in them a taste for a healthy lifestyle. It operates within the educational, physical culture and sports-mass work. In addition to this significant social problem, sports club is preparing for sporting reserves and university teams in different sports. The club has the authority to submit commands to the local, national, international sports, public organizations and associations.
Now the problem of assistance and support to young people in difficult life situations is becoming particularly urgent. Dagestan State University conducts a range of measures to support disadvantaged students. The social state of students of DSU, including freshmen immediately after their admission to the university, is regularly surveyed and monitored.
Dagestan State University provides an annual summer vacation and sanitation for the students. They have the possibility to rest in the following areas: Caucasian Mineral Waters and the Caspian Sea coast. For the whole summer period more than 700 students go for recreation. Students on vocation take courses on sanitation, make sightseeing trips, keep a special diet. Disadvantaged students go on vacation in the first place. During the summer holidays the recreation center of DSU "Manas" operates.
Much attention is paid by DSU to charity. The volunteer movement actively develops at the university. The Students of DSU take an active part in all-Russian scientific-practical conferences and seminars on the implementation of innovative volunteer projects of social orientation.
Students of all the departments of the republic visit orphanages: providing material support and conducting theatrical performances and concerts.
