Abstract:

The current stage of civilization development is characterized by turbulence in global geopolitics, crises and instability of the world economy. One important consequence of these processes is the uncontrolled migration, covering the global universe. In the context of social, political and economic instability we’ve witnessed the escalation of the social tension, accompanied by the growth of inter-ethnic conflicts. It should be noted that the problem of national peculiarities existed and will always exist, even the high pace of globalization and internationalization could not erase the cultural border of the different countries representatives.

In the new realities of the international community transformation, universities are at the forefront, adequately reacting to global changes in the world order and responding to its challenges. Student environment in Russian universities is traditionally multi-ethnic and multicultural, but in recent years there’ve been an increase in the quantitative and qualitative composition of students due to the fact of the increase in the migration flow of foreign knowledge holders. Activation of the cross-cultural interactions actualizes the discussion of the conceptual features of the tolerant educational university environment development and its impact on students' cross-cultural compatibility.

The students’ perception was studied using a sample of 750 national and international students of Ural Federal University, Russia. The demographic profile of the selected group characterizes the largest national communities in the university (Russians, Chinese, Kazakhs, Guineans, Mongols, Mexicans, and Koreans). It was interesting to find out what is the meaning that students invest into the term "tolerance" and how, according to the test, it is possible to form tolerant consciousness in the student society.

The methodology is based on the questionnaires developed by the authors, in-depth interviews, as well as semistructured interviews with students and alumni.

Analysis of the data shows that students demonstrate understanding of the notion tolerance as the expression of the recognition and respect for beliefs and actions of others, the ability and desire to dialogue.

The ways of forming tolerant consciousness among students were examined. The prevailing problem in this area is called the formation of respect for the diversity of world cultures through the development of cross-cultural communication norms.

It should be noted that the understanding of ethnic compatibility of various ethnic groups increases the efficiency of educational process management and contributes to conflict prevention. On the basis of the received data the scale of cross - cultural compatibility of national groups of students was plotted. As the criterial parameters the following elements of cultures were taken: attitude to people, attitude to time, spatial orientation, direction of activity, attitude towards nature.

The correlation between students’ tolerance and cross - cultural compatibility with other national groups was found.

Thus, the undertaken study has established the interrelation between the student's society tolerance and cross - cultural compatibility of its members.

Keywords:

Tolerance, internationalization, cross-cultural incompatibility.