Professional activity in modern society requires a specialist to have not only a certain level of professionalism in their field, but also be ready for rapid adaptation in the professional space as well as to be mobile on the labor market and pursue constant self-improvement. The activity-based methodology is changing in the direction when a specialist has an ability to successfully use the methods of organizing their work and solving professional problems with the help of modern technologies (social, information, communication, etc.). Also a specialist should be able to design and present the results of their work. Responding to the demands of modern society, Higher education provides the development of so-called “flexible” (universal) competencies of future specialists. These competences form the basis of the Federal State Educational Standard 3++ , which aim at developing systematic thinking, critical assessment of information, and the ability to use a variety of resources to solve professional problems. The article presents the experience of Omsk State Pedagogical University in organizing the process of students’ universal competencies development. The study was conducted within the framework of a research grant provided by OmSPU Science Development Fund.