Student initiative budgeting in the context of increasing financial inclusion

   Introduction. The transformation of the strategy for increasing financial accessibility poses new challenges for the formation and development of an ecosystem based on the integrated resources of educational organizations. Currently, the practice of participatory (initiative) budgeting as one of the new mechanisms of the public finance system, the direct participation of citizens, recipients of public goods, in the budgetary process, is rapidly developing. The emerging experience of budgeting based on public participation, which is one of the directions of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, has its own characteristics for increasing transparency and accessibility of information on the management of public (state and municipal) finances and has great potential for involving students in discussion and decision-making on issues of intra-university importance. Launch in September 2024 of the pilot project in Russia on the introduction of student initiative budgeting at certain universities forms a new model for the effective use of student civic initiatives not only to improve the efficiency of planning and spending the university budget, public finance projects, but also to improve financial literacy and civic identity of young people through self-development.

   Purpose setting. The author emphasizes the exceptional role and great importance of student initiative budgeting in the light of a competence-based approach that meets the modern paradigm of higher education. The formation of the financial culture of young people as a foundation for ensuring full-fledged social realization in the future is the subject field of scientific research. This includes methods of stimulating young people to self-development in the relevant field, tools for involving young people in projects involving the formation of competencies and skills in an activity format.

   Methodology and methods of the study. The issues of initiative budgeting are currently insufficiently covered in the scientific literature due to the innovativeness of the practice, the projection on the student segment can be discussed in detail after receiving the first results of the pilot project in 55 universities in 41 subjects of the Russian Federation (two of which are in the Novosibirsk Region – Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management (NSUEM) and Novosibirsk State Agrarian University (NSAU).

   Results. NSUEM, as an entrepreneurial university, has extensive experience in project work, in addition, it is the flagship in the educational environment for the organization of financial literacy projects, the initiator of the All-Russian Financial Dictation, the co-founder of the House of Financial Education of the Novosibirsk region. Student initiative budgeting at NSAU, a pilot university in the region in this area, which has the characteristics of students as a social group, can be considered not only as a way to meet the educational and professional needs of students at universities, but also as a tool to improve the quality of professional training of a future specialist and a way for students to interact with social reality in the context of the prospects of the agricultural sector of the economy, influencing the development of rural areas and financial accessibility.

   Conclusion. Thanks to student initiative budgeting, it is possible to strengthen the openness of universities to partnerships, primarily aimed at social entrepreneurship. Interuniversity partnership and the involvement of teachers, staff, and the interest of university administrations in a common task will contribute to the formation of an influential corporate university community in the region.

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