ON THE ISSUE OF FOREIGN STUDENT ADAPTATION IN MULTINATIONAL HIGHER SCHOOL: THE REGIONAL ASPECTS
The article raises issues of foreign students’ sociocultural adaptation to learning and living conditions in Russian society. Various definitions of the term "adaptation" in biological and social sciences are studied and basic theoretical propositions of the adaptive theory are stated. When developing the topic, the author relied on foreign works as well as domestic researches dealing with foreign students’ adaptation and integration problems in sociocultural environment of the host society. The complex of physiological, educational, sociocultural and household factors influence the process of foreign student adaptation. Main reasons influencing the level of foreign students’ adaptation are revealed in the article, stages of adaptation to the new verbal, sociocultural and educational environment of the host country culture are considered. The article discusses the experience of the foreign students’ adaptation program implemented at Vladivostok State University of Economics and Services. The activity of university administrative structures contributes to the development of foreign students’ social interaction and help them to adapt themselves to the conditions of the new sociocultural environment. The organization of the student intercultural interaction and cooperation in the educational space of the university has become a favorable condition for foreign students’ faster and successful integration and sociocultural adaptation.