THE PROBLEM OF INTERNATIONALIZATION AS A GLOBAL PROBLEM OF A RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY (THE EXAMPLE OF INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITY AT THE PHILOLOGY FACULTY OF THE PEOPLES’ FRIENDSHIP UNIVERSITY OF RUSSIA)

Abstract

Not for all Russian universities, the issue of internationalization is a challenge today, but international activity is a traditional aspect of work for all the leading universities in Russia. Nevertheless, in the cohort of leading Russian universities, RUDN occupies a special place, as starting from its inception it has always been focused on working with foreign countries. Nowadays, the participation of leading Russian universities in the “5-100” Project moves this problem into a new format. The international activity of the university consists of work in this direction provided by its each faculty. This work involves a huge contribution of its scientific and pedagogical staff, administrative workers and students. This article contains a description of the activities carried out by the philological faculty of the RUDN University aiming not only to fulfill the indicators on international activities stipulated by the Roadmap but also to ultimately develop some strategy in this direction. It must preview, above all, the conclusion of agreements on inter-university cooperation at the international level and the actual implementation of these agreements. In addition, it should take into consideration incoming and outgoing mobility of students and teachers, as well as finding ways to motivate them to participate in such mobility. An important component is international scientific cooperation, which involves the creation of joint research laboratories, mutual publication activity and hosting regular scientific and practical conferences (forums, round tables, panel discussions), including conferences for students. However, work in all areas is complicated by a number of problems that require a quick, efficient and often non-standard approach. There are quite a lot of difficulties that the faculty most often encounters while elaborating and implementing international activities at the university. These include the search for methods of attracting foreign students to the RUDN University and resources for providing them with the educational process (a package of necessary or desired disciplines in the intermediary language or the student's native language, the number of credits needed for their subsequent registration at a partner university). At the same time, it is important to develop a procedure for motivating, selecting and financially supporting the students at RUDN University who are considering the possibility of participating in foreign mobility. When working with teachers, it is important to orient them to participate in scientific conferences that contribute to enhancing their personal scientific status, as well as improving the image of the University in the scientific world as a result of that teaching mobility. At the same time, there is an urgent need to develop a single, simple procedure for attracting foreign lecturers to the RUDN University and determining the criteria for these personnel. Of course, a significant aspect in the work of teachers is their publication activity. In this regard, it is necessary to take into account the scientific bases to which the journal belongs, the degree of the scientist’s citation and the level of trust towards the edition in the scientific world. A more detailed description of the issues faced by the faculty as a subdivision of an internationally-oriented university, and their solutions is presented in this paper.