In today's institution of higher learning, rating the effectiveness of the training of the future specialist is based on an individual's possession of professional, social, individual, and personal competencies, which include the ability to see the sociocultural context of his activity, to work on a team, to create a favorable social environment and human relations, to turn to various sources of information, and to raise the level of his own qualifications throughout his life. The only way that these goals can be accomplished is to make use of a broad array of social disciplines and humanities at all stages and levels of educational practice. A substantial role can be played by sociological training in the system of higher education, training that permits an integrated understanding of society and the individual as the subject or active agent of social changes. At the Moscow N. E. Bauman State Technical University, programs developed in the department of sociology and culturology cultivate the social, individual, and personal competencies of today's engineer. [This article was translated by Kim Bathwater.]