Internationalization as a practice of foreign students' social adaptation in the context of the post-pandemic period (on the example of Tomsk University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics - TUSUR)

The article is devoted to identifying problem areas of educational and socio-cultural adaptation of foreign students in a modern university. The geopolitical and economic nature of modern sociality actualizes the development of adaptation mechanisms and tools for the formation of a barrier-free international environment of the university. Today, education is aimed both at the formation of utilitarian and technological goals, as well as on the values that bring people closer together (ideals of good, justice, equality). The paper analyzes the process of external educational migration, determines the content of the stages, identifies the problems of the post-pandemic period and the directions of their effective solution on the example of TUSUR. The preservation of the educational environment stability in the face of the challenges of the pandemic is associated with the practice of comfortable international interaction formed in the previous period at the university, which allowed to flexibly adapt the educational environment for all participants in the educational process. It should be noted that the development of adaptation mechanisms and tools for the formation of a barrier-free international environment of the university depends on the developed university infrastructure. The monitoring conducted during the pandemic among foreign students revealed a number of problem areas, such as: 1) general maladaptation, unpreparedness for the transition to remote education of both students and teaching staff, etc.; 2) difficulties in understanding the material in online classes; 3) difficulties with self-discipline, self-organization and time management, rational time planning. To overcome the above problems, the university used such comprehensive support tools as: 1) digital-intellectual volunteering; 2) extended information support, including services such as "personal account"; 3) the possibilities of the electronic information and educational environment of TUSUR. The pandemic marked the apparent fragility of the internationalization process (lockdown, border closure, restriction of personal communication, etc.), but, at the same time, tools were found quickly enough to solve most of the problems of cross-border knowledge transfer in new digital formats, successfully used by the university. Internationalization in the orbit of Russian influence is realized in the educational and socio-cultural spheres and is associated with the need to integrate foreign students into a new environment, where the use of adaptation mechanisms and tools for the formation of a barrier-free international environment of the university is actualized. The data obtained on the problems of foreign students and ways to solve them allow us to identify the main adaptation mechanisms and focus on the development of infrastructure both internal and external. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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