THE IMPORTANCE OF FORMING MULTICULTURAL IDENTITY IN INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS DURING THEIR STUDIES IN RUSSIA

Abstract

The article considers such a concept as identity, which is able to influence the success of the educational process when studying a speciality in Russian universities. The subject of the study is international students who receive bachelor’s, master’s and postgraduate degree. The object of the study is the appropriateness of the process connected with developing multicultural identity in the process of obtaining academic knowledge in Russian higher education. It is concluded that it is the developed multicultural identity of oversees students that can mitigate the risks of maladaptability to the requirements of higher education as well as social and living conditions, which enrolled students can face while communicating. As an example, pedagogical approaches to the development of national identity, which are applied in some English-speaking countries, are given. A number of pedagogical conditions are proposed. Their fulfilment will help, firstly, to avoid conflicts in the course of intercultural communication among students of different nationalities, and secondly, to promote the introduction of the so-called “soft power influence”. The work emphasises the necessity of developing intercultural competence of academics who work with overseas students.