Keyword: «microsociology»

The development of Russian education exports implies a significant increase in the number of foreign students in the country's universities. In such conditions, the issues of preparing globally educated graduates are becoming increasingly relevant. The importance of methods for assessing the level of global competences development in students is also growing. Today, this problem is most often solved by using surveys and testing of students, which naturally significantly narrows the chances for obtaining objective data. In addition, such methods often limit the possibilities for a comprehensive analysis, since they do not always consider the contextual and social aspects of these competences’ development. The aim of the study is to examine and test in practice other methods that allow assessing the level of the relevant competences’ formation. Analysis of scientific literature shows that an alternative approach here may be the use of microsociological methods that focus on the study of social interactions and everyday practices of students. The advantage of the approach in using such methods is that they provide a deeper understanding of how global competences are formed in real conditions, taking into account the influence of the social environment, cultural characteristics and individual differences. In this paper, in addition to a general analysis of various microsociological methods, an analysis of how some of them can be applied to study this problem in practice is presented. In particular, the paper presents the results of a study conducted using two of them with the participation of foreign students of the Kabardino-Balkarian State University. The results of the analysis of essays and drawings showed that students have different ideas about global threats, which depend on their personal experience, cultural background and educational context. From a theoretical point of view, the study allows us to conclude that microsociological methods can significantly improve the understanding of the process of building up global competences, and also contribute to the development of knowledge about how global competences are developed in various social and cultural contexts. From a practical point of view, the results can be useful for developing effective strategies for building up global competences, which is important for both researchers and practitioners in the field of education, since it can contribute to the creation of more effective educational programs.