The research featured the measures required to plan scientific and research activities that develop research competency in university students. The authors explained the necessity to plan research activities in the way that would allow students to master educational and cognitive techniques and perform practical actions aimed at solving personal and socially significant tasks. The article outlines theoretical background of research work planning at institutions of higher education. The concept of research competency was defined as a combination of motivational, gnoseological, operational, and personal components, developed at such a level that allows one to successfully apply the acquired research skills and knowledge in practical tasks. The authors believe that the development of research competency is the final result of education. Competencey as a new mental formation develops while mastering certain activities during the learning process. The phenomenon includes knowledge, skills, personality traits, and personal qualities. The paper introduces a set of criteria indicators that can be used to assess the level of research competence in students. The article also focuses on interactive methods, social media, and changing the role range of participants. A set of experiments registered some positive changes in the parameters of the components that together make up research competency. The results revealed a higher level of motivation, which indicates that the students are growing more aware of the value of science and research. They also demonstrated a better-developed gnoseological component. This improvement can be explained by the fact that research work activated such cognitive processes as systematization, planning, comparison, and generalization. A higher development level of the operational and personal components was reflected in better quality research reports and scientific publications.