SUMMARY
The relevance of the study is due to higher requirements for the professional training of engineering specialists and the need to determine the most significant aspects of their readiness to conduct professional activities. Focus on certain training aspects will make it possible to increase both the quality and the speed of specialist training, as well as contribute to their personal motivation and help them reveal their talents. The purpose of the study is to identify the elements of archi-tecture student readiness to conduct professional activities. The study took place at the Ural State University of Architecture and Art (Russia, Yekaterinburg); it involved 120 four- and five-year-students of the Faculty of Architecture, as well as 12 faculty teachers and 154 graduates of different graduation years who have from 5 to 20 years of professional experience. Based on the analysis of available research on professionalism and professional readiness, as well as a preliminary participant survey, a number of elements of students' readiness for professional activities have been identified. The concept of students' readiness to conduct pro-fessional activities has been clarified; it is described as complex integrative struc-ture, which simultaneously reflects the level of development of professionally important qualities and abilities of specialists, especially their attitude to profes-sion. The elements of students' readiness to conduct professional activities have been identified: motivational-axiological, informational-cognitive, activity-oriented, personality-reflexive. The survey participants described the elements that they believed would most contribute to professional readiness: motivational-axiological (22% of participants), informational-cognitive (18.8% of participants), personality-reflexive (16.7% of participants) and activity-oriented (13.4%). The study can be useful for vocational education teachers to help them identify the in-fluence of students' personal characteristics on the successful development of their readiness for professional activities.