Keyword: «structure of educational program»

The article examines the methodology for designing engineering educational programs, which is based on an invariant component – the «core» of engineering training. Two basic approaches that determine the structure and content of the core are considered – competence-based, focused on the learning outcome, and disciplinary, focused on the educational process. A comparative analysis of the «core» of engineering programs implemented at the Physics and Mathematics Department of Smolensk State University and the «core» project developed within the framework of a pilot project to update the higher education system are given.