Tolerance to foreign students in Russian universities (a case study of Perm State University)

The competitiveness of a university is one of the requirements of the modern education market. In order to achieve it, Russian universities increase their educational and research potential. They invite foreign students and staff. This process requires methodological and cultural changes at the university. The creation of the environment fostering tolerant interaction between foreign and Russian students, the development of tolerance are among the mandatory changes. Tolerance reduces conflicts in society as a whole and diminishes intolerance towards other cultures, nations, races, and genders. This requires a lot of control during implementation and constant monitoring of the situation. Tolerance is manifested in the process of communication and is determined through the category «attitude» and its three components - emotional, behavioral, cognitive. The purpose of this article is to characterize the current state of tolerant relations between Russian and foreign students at Perm State University. The empirical base of the study is a survey of Russian students at Perm State University about their attitude to foreign students. The authors evaluate: 1) the current state of the three components of tolerant relationships (emotional, behavioral, cognitive); 2) students' understanding of tolerant relations; 3) attitude to the foreigners' adaptation to educational and extracurricular activities. Perm University has a favorable environment for the development of intercultural interaction among students. Respondents adequately understand tolerance and its features and are ready to respect the cultural, national characteristics of foreign students. In practical terms, the study can clarify ideas about successful ways of developing communication among representatives of different cultures and about ways of developing tolerant relations among students from different countries.