Larisa A. Apanasyuk

Research background: qualitative and quantitative changes taking place at the present stage of development of the higher education system in Russia have led to a shift in emphasis in the competition between higher education institutions and the educational product they offer: universities improve the quality of the implementation of educational programs by promoting new or more competitive products in increasingly tough competition for entrants. The purpose of the article is to reflect the results of a large-scale monitoring of the quality of the implementation of educational programs of a higher educational institution. Research hypothesis: the authors suggest that in order to improve the quality of the implementation of educational programs of the university, it is necessary to analyze the existing strategy in the framework of digital distance learning, as one of the most popular in modern conditions and gaining more and more popularity. As a research method, a sociological survey (questionnaire) was chosen, the respondents of which were 250 students and teachers of the Russian State Social University. The study revealed that the vast majority of respondents refused to completely switch to digital distance learning – about 87% of respondents. However, students of bachelor's and master's degree studies of the correspondence department were in favor of using digital distance learning in the educational process – 80% and 75%, respectively. At the same time, the low quality of training programs used in digital distance learning, and the lack of individual adaptation of training materials to the requirements and abilities of the student, requires the introduction of interactivity into the materials and the competent content of training programs, which is one of the indicators that affect the choice of an educational institution by potential consumers of educational services. The authors came to the conclusion that it is necessary to organize the training of teachers to improve their professional level in order to meet the challenges of our time in the form of digital technologies. It is also necessary to organize control over the use of digital technologies in education. The results of the study can be used to improve the quality of the implementation of educational programs of the university.

The study is aimed at highlighting the issue of interaction between a teacher and foreign students in the process of forming the readiness of foreign students for intercultural cooperation, which is especially important in the multicultural educational environment of a university. In addition, experience of intercultural cooperation in terms of multi-dialogue of cultures is important for future specialists to realize their professional potential. The aim of the study is a theoretical and practical justification of the need for pedagogical support for the formation of foreign students' readiness for intercultural cooperation when teaching Russian as a foreign language. Theoretical methods were used for the work (study and analysis of pedagogical, methodological literature, materials and publications in the pedagogical and journalistic press on research issues, as well as concretization, analogy and analysis of the pedagogical experience of universities). The results of the study reflect the principles of organizing pedagogical support for the formation of foreign students' readiness for intercultural collaboration; expand the understanding of the specialized content of foreign students’ education; show that it is important to show the value significance of the intercultural education for the development of a foreign student’s personality and his/her formation as a future specialist, therefore, the teacher needs to ensure that foreign students understand the intercultural character of education by determining of the intercultural situation when learning the profession, and reflection on the concepts of socio-cultural activity, knowledge of the content of intercultural education and methods of enhancing socio-cultural work. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the fact that its results complement the theory and methodology of teaching Russian as a foreign language in the aspect of preparing foreign students for intercultural cooperation. The practical significance of the research lies in the development of alternative means of teaching Russian as a foreign language in terms of preparing foreign students for intercultural cooperation in the system of higher professional education, taking into account the author's interpretation of the research concept and the variability of methodological techniques. As a result, in the process of teaching Russian as a foreign language using the means of social and cultural cooperation, the personality of a foreign student is transformed and acquires variable abilities through the implementation of intercultural activity methods.

The relevance of the study in the article is due to the development of globalization processes in the modern world and the intensification of international cooperation in various fields of professional activity, which entails an urgent need to prepare students for intercultural communication. The aim of the study is theoretical and practical justification of career guidance web quests technology as a factor in improving the effectiveness of preparing students for intercultural communication. The study used theoretical methods (the study and analysis of pedagogical, methodological literature, materials and publications in the pedagogical and journalistic periodicals on research problems, as well as concretization, analogy, modeling and analysis of the pedagogical experience of universities) and empirical methods (questioning, conversation, interviewing, testing, analysis of students’ learning results, observation, ascertaining and forming experiments, qualitative and quantitative analysis of experimental data and their mathematical processing). According to the results of the study, the article presents the theoretical and practical justification for the need and importance of using the technology of career guidance web quests technology as a factor in improving the effectiveness of preparing students for intercultural communication. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the fact that its results contribute to the theory and methodology of teaching a foreign language in terms of preparing students for intercultural communication. Results of the study reflect the principles of work organization based on the use of career guidance web quests technology in teaching a foreign language; expand the understanding of career guidance web quest technology; substantiate the criteria and indicators of students' readiness for intercultural communication with the use of career guidance web quest technology. The practical significance of the study is in the development of assessment tools which help determine the effectiveness of preparing students for intercultural communication using the career guidance web quest technology as well as in introducing the career guidance web quest technology into the educational process in order to prepare students for intercultural communication.

The dominance of the highly informative methods of teaching foreign languages at non-linguistic universities and the lack of use of technology of project activities in a foreign language, which enables to develop communicative skills of future specialists as the basis of their readiness for intercultural communication, determine the relevance of the research in the article. The aim of the research is the theoretical substantiation, development and testing of experimental models by means of communicative skills formation in students of non-linguistic universities during the implementation of project activities in a foreign language. The article was prepared on the basis of the following methods use: analysis, questionnaire, interview, observation, survey, pedagogical observation and generalization of personal teaching experience, experimental teaching in student groups, method of expert evaluations, ranking, analysis of students’ project work products, pedagogical experiment, and statistical methods. According to the results, the paper presents theoretical and practical justification of the need to develop the model of communicative skills formation among students of non-linguistic universities during implementation of project activities in a foreign language. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the fact that it defines the structure of communicative skills in the implementation of project activities in a foreign language; it identifies and justifies the directions of project activities in a foreign language for students of a non-linguistic university, contributing to the effective formation of their communicative skills during the implementation of project activities in a foreign language. The practical significance of the research results: a set of training tasks has been developed aimed at the formation of communicative skills among students of a non-linguistic university during the implementation of project activities in a foreign language; the content of projects for students of non-linguistic universities was worked out; a set of diagnostic materials was worked out to evaluate the results of project-oriented learning activities of students of a non-linguistic university while learning a foreign language.