Abstract:

Nowadays Russian educational sphere is becoming more attractive for foreign students. Thanks to various programs and grants supported by Russian government, more and more students from different countries decide to continue their education in Russia. The organization of educational process for foreign students is rather challenging due to numerous features among which adaptation to a new pedagogical system is the most important. To make this adaptation smoother we need to know the background of their educational system perception, formed by the reality peculiar to this or that country.

At the moment Russia and China have strong and close collaboration in many spheres including the educational one. Today many students from China get higher education in South Ural State University, the biggest university in the Ural region included into the program 5-100 aimed at integrating high schools into the world international scientific society. Thus in order to strengthen the existing relationship and attract students from other countries the teaching staff needs to create a positive and appealing image of Russian educational system, university, professor, etc.. However this can not be done without awareness of background perception of these images by foreign students.

This article aims to analyse the peculiarities of Chinese students’ perception of educational system, to set up their universal model of viewpoint on an effective pedagogical system and to eliminate the number of negative factors that disturb students and influence on their attitude towards education in general.

By using a mixed methods approach (traditional research methods of observation, product analysis, comparing and associative experiment) the authors present the models of such images as education, university, professor, subject that exist in the consciousness of Chinese students. In conclusion, the authors identify the most important aspects that should be taken into consideration during the adaptation period in order to organise effective intercultural communication and cooperation between Chinese students and teaching staff.

Keywords:

Adaptation, foreign students, pedagogical system, educational environment, associative experiment.