Abstract:

The article describes the educational and extra-curricular training outcomes of the Siberian Federal University students. The results of the psychological-pedagogical diagnostics, sociological surveys and expert assessment of building ethnic tolerance as an element of students’ intercultural competence are presented and analyzed.

For effective use of the potential of educational environment, Universities need to study it’s multicultural aspects, which influence building and developing tolerance of students in a multicultural society. The scientific idea was elaborated in Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk, Russia), that students’ ethnic tolerance building is related to the arrangement of the systematic activities on enriching the University environment with the multicultural events in formal and informal learning. The aim of the study was in producing the organizational model of planning, analyzing and implementation of productive activities as well as assessing the levels of ethnic tolerance in the multicultural University environment .SibFU performed a study on issues of building ethnic tolerance of students in a multicultural educational environment. This is being implemented by both academic program courses and in extra-curricular (social, sporting, cultural, volunteer, project) activities; in formal (academic) and informal education. To study the effectiveness of the students' tolerance development, qualitative and quantitative sociological and psychological-pedagogical methods were applied. Assessment was made by means of validated questionnaires (Bogardus social distance scale, Index of tolerance, Intercultural competence evaluation methods, Measure of Emotional Empathy by Mehrabian & Epstein, Types of Ethnic Identity and others), as well as by the unique authors automated methods for evaluating ethnic tolerance of students.

To confirm the relevance of the interethnic interaction problems solution in the University environment, an expert evaluation of the representatives of the scientific community was conducted. An analysis of expert opinion on the problems of the development of ethnic tolerance showed how educators contribute into the building student’s intercultural competence. Teachers, professors, administrative University staff considered practical suggestions that were processed and analyzed.

It should be noted that in the Siberian Federal University various approaches and productive practices for the ethnic tolerance building are applied, among which:
- multicultural educational training courses and cultural events in extra-curricular activities;
- academic and professional mobility;
- disseminating theoretical knowledge and cross-cultural awareness through educational courses, electronic resources and social services;
- practical activities for students on a wide range of intercultural aspects;
- organization of intensive student practice sessions in the formats of international summer schools, forums, internships;
- international projects and research activities in multicultural contexts;
- development and implementation of electronic educational platforms resources.

To coordinate joint teachers and administrative efforts and to monitor the effectiveness of practices for the development of ethnic tolerance in University, the organizational model of building and assessing ethnic tolerance of the Siberian Federal University students was developed and is recommended by educators-experts for application.

Keywords:

Ethnic tolerance, multicultural environment, training outcomes, formal and informal learning, Bogardus social distance scale, Index of tolerance.