Vivat Academia: Commitment to the University among Students with Different Motives for Participation in Extracurricular Activities

The objective of the article is to study the motives and factors of student involvement in extracurricular activities at the university to strengthen identification with the university and develop social and personal competencies. Based on a survey of 1st-3rd year students of the leading Omsk university (N=1120), a group of activists in extracurricular activities (N=403) was identified to build a typology and identify the specifics of clusters using a modified "Organizational Identification Scale" by B. Ashforth and F. Mael, TIPI-RU questionnaire by S. Gosling adapted by A.S. Sergeeva, and the author's questionnaire. The leading motives of extracurricular activities (interest and desire for self-development) were identified; three types of students were identified: with universal; pronounced internal; unstable motivation. The first type combines internal and external motivation for extracurricular activities; it includes students living in a dormitory, engaged in social and professionally oriented activities, having a strong identification with the university, and high extroversion. The second type is guided mainly by interest and desire for self-development, more often includes girls engaged in public work, with low extroversion, expressed conscientiousness and neuroticism. The third type is students with the weakest motivation, participating in extracurricular activities based on their interests or in anticipation of bonuses, living in their own homes, introverted and low in their self-organization skills. Common to all students is a tendency towards communicative and contemplative formats of events, specific – interest in different types of extracurricular activities. The identified typological features of students can be taken into account in the process of forming a comfortable social environment and commitment to the university during student years through the targeted organization of extracurricular activities.