Cross-cultural study of students' ethnocultural competence

The article presents the results of ethnocultural competency study, carried out among students of the Republic of Tuva and the Republic of Buryatia. We compared the results of Russian respondents and representatives of traditional culture - Tuvans and Buryats. An analysis of the results showed a lack of ethnocultural competence of Tuvan and Russian respondents. A significant proportion of students demonstrated xenophobic attitudes, intolerance, tensions of inter-ethnic relations. The received data point to the need for prevention of extremism and xenophobia among students, formation of their ethnocultural competence as a part of professional competence. The work on development of ethnocultural competence of students should be based on ethnic and cultural aspects of academic disciplines (history, native language, national culture, etc.); extracurricular activities (clubs, folk ensembles, festivals, celebration of national holidays, etc.) and practice-oriented aspects (use of communication methods, interaction and cooperation with children of different ethnicities).