Modern higher technical education performs the most important social function - the formation of a comprehensively developed specialist, who can harmoniously combine high professionalism, developed intelligence, a creative approach of a dealing with the problems, high social activity and responsibility for the economic, environmental and humanitarian consequences of engineering and technological developments. So the creation of the humanitarian environment of technical universities is a kind of a guarantee of the quality of modern higher education. The humanitarian component of higher technical education in the post-industrial era should be not strengthened, but it should acquire a new matrix, foundation, paradigm that the new structure of modern Russian higher professional education will be built on. Such a task is quite executable for the technical universities, whose status implies mastering students universal, professional and communicative knowledge, which will serve as the basis for the competitiveness of this graduate.

During the creating and saturating the humanitarian environment in universities, the experience of conducting student research projects, which are carried out through participation in the scientific developments of the departments and student research societies, as well as in humanitarian research projects, acquires great importance. For example, at the KSUAE the student project known as "Torch" has been implemented for more than ten years, it's purpose is to collect and systematize the memories of the participants of the Great Patriotic War and other witnesses of the events of the period. Upon the research there was formed an electronic database of participants in the Great Patriotic War, home front workers and wartime children, and collections of memories of the Great Patriotic War were published.

Researches of students in the Sovremennik project are very important. the implementation of Sovremennik consists of collecting sources of personal origin: memories, photos and video materials, documentary evidence of the Soviet era, primarily from the period of the 1960-1980s. The last Soviet generation (1960-1980s) can be distinguished into a separate social group as the creator of a collective portrait of the "beautiful era" when the Soviet state gradually approached its collapse. Memories of this group as a historical source contain a certain paradox. On the one hand, most of the Soviet people accepted the ideological constant of the Soviet state, they were confident in the future of this value system, the "eternity" of the Soviet state. On the other hand, they have accepted the collapse of the Soviet ideology, the collapse of the USSR as a completely natural outcome and were ready to accept new meanings.

Everyday life is reflected in the memoirs of contemporaries of the era of the 1960-70s, with its poor life, modest joys, when everyday events for the modern generation turn into vivid memories. The numerous interviews taken by the students reflected the bright moments of pioneering childhood, the Komsomol youth and student's everyday life. A special place in the late Soviet history is occupied by the period of Perestroika, which is a short but very intense period. Serious changes touched various aspects of people's lives, which was reflected in the memories of representatives of the last Soviet generation.

Humanities disciplines invariably attract the attention of students who have an inclination and ability to research work, which makes it possible to include them in scientific activities already in 1-2 courses of study. Thus, students get not only research experience: they get acquainted with sources and historiography, correctly formulate the obtained results, but also gain valuable experience of public speaking, acquire skills in conducting scientific discussion, opposition, creating an evidence base. An important aspect of the research work of students is the education of personal qualities, creative thinking, the expansion of ideological boundaries, the creation of a humanitarian basis for any specialty and activity.

In modern conditions, universities are facing a difficult task: to prepare modern specialists with a complex of professional knowledge, ability to work creatively and sociocultural competences, including the ability to improve and develop their intellectual and general cultural level, to achieve moral and physical improvement of their personality. In this context, the humanitarian environment of a modern technical university, its improvement and development, is an essential component of higher professional education, through which students receive not only high professional attitudes, but also serious humanitarian training aimed at the need to create new relations with the environment, society, people, nations and civilizations.