Abstract:

Introduction:
Russian higher education institutions have been running an international student exchange program for many years, which allows foreign citizens to get higher education in almost any country that attracts them. One of the popular specialties for foreigners is medicine and agriculture. The issues of adaptation of foreign students remain relevant, due to the increase in the number of students from near and far abroad. There are only 24 universities in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), of which 92% are state-owned, 8% non-state. The largest of them not only in the republic, but also among the educational institutions of the Far East is the North-Eastern Federal University. M.K. Ammosov (NEFU) and the Arctic State Agrotechnological University, one of the oldest universities in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), which trains specialists for the agricultural sector of the economy. Currently, 515 foreign students from 39 countries are studying at the North-Eastern Federal University.
The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the adaptation of foreign first-year students to the conditions of living and studying in the North in the changing conditions of the socio-economic and political situation.

Methodology:
Questionnaires and interviews were conducted with foreign first-year students of the Medical Institute of NEFU and the Arctic State Agrotechnological University (AGATU). A total of 32 students took part, of which: from Uzbekistan -6, Tajikistan - 23, Kyrgyzstan - 2, Zimbabwe-1, of which 19 boys and 3 girls, aged 18 to 24 years.

Results:
Among the respondents, the majority of students live in university dormitories. The traditional factors of adaptation for foreign students are climatic conditions, personal and psychological, adaptation to the new pedagogical system, to social and household, as well as interpersonal communication and life in an international hostel. Difficulties in the educational process are associated with the irrational use of their time, the complexity of the material being studied, large study loads, insufficient school preparation and insufficient knowledge of the Russian language, as well as the transition to distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. For successful adaptation in universities, adaptation work is carried out with foreign students, for example, NEFU International club operates in NEFU, where student volunteers introduce foreign students to the university, help in filling out documents and extending visas, introduce them to the city, sights, history, as well as life. Another Tandem Program allows you to mutually learn languages: a foreign language with a native speaker and Russian for foreigners. In NEFU, foreign students study Russian for the first year of study at the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language. In teaching foreign students, due to the language barrier, visualization of the subject matter is important, therefore, for a better perception of the lecture material, it is necessary for them to arrange video material, diagrams and illustrations, and practical exercises - visual aids and work on simulators.

Conclusions:
Successful adaptation of first-year foreign students depends on the educational environment, the totality of social, cultural, as well as psychological and pedagogical conditions specially organized at the university.

Keywords:

Adaptation, first-year students, foreign students, university, education, socio-economic conditions, educational environment, Yakutia.