Lilia Volodymyrivna Bilohorka,
lecturer
FORMS AND MEANS OF SOCIO-CULTURAL ADAPTATION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN UKRAINE
The Ukrainian higher education system is characterized by trends of globalization, which manifest themselves at both the socioeconomic and sociocultural levels. Thus, over the past decades, Ukrainian universities have been actively participating in international exchanges of both students and faculty members. Consequently, students from other countries are pursuing higher education and earning academic degrees at Ukrainian universities. Student migration to Ukraine is a significant factor and an important component in shaping Ukraine’s positive international image.
The internationalization of modern higher education brings to the forefront the issue of foreign students’ adaptation to the unfamiliar reality of higher education in a foreign country. Since both individuals and their environment are constantly changing, adaptation proves to be a fundamental basis of existence. Despite the differences between social, physiological, psychological, biosocial, sociocultural, and other types of adaptation, in reality, as they intertwine, they represent distinct aspects of a single process.
The conditions of study at a higher education institution place heightened demands on students’ adaptive mechanisms. The challenges faced by international students in adapting differ in nature from those faced by Ukrainian students (overcoming the didactic barrier); they depend on national and regional characteristics and vary from course to course. In general, the stages of international students’ adaptation to a new linguistic, sociocultural, and academic environment consist of integrating into the student community, assimilating the basic norms of an international group, developing their own behavioral style, forming a positive attitude toward their future profession, overcoming the “language barrier,” and strengthening a sense of academic equality.