Short-Term International Academic Mobility as a Factor of Higher Education Internationalization

This article analyses students’ short-term academic mobility. One of the key conditions for a university’s entry into the global educational market is its implementing the programs and projects aimed at attracting foreign students. Today academic mobility is a source of «soft power» to promote the interests of any state in the international arena. For a case study there was chosen Ural Federal University, included into the 5-100-2020 program. Since 2014, on its basis there has been implemented the project «Summer University», with the aim to attract foreign students for short-term educational programs. The article is based on the 2019 survey, its object being students from the People’s Republic of China – participants of short-term international academic mobility program (n=31), and on the research interviews with teachers (n=5), whose activities are related to training foreign students. There is analyzed the motivational structure of the students’ arrival, as well as their expectations from participation in the educational program and the barriers to the effective implementation of short-term educational programs at the university. The results of the research show that foreign students, participants of the short-term international academic mobility programs, are primarily focused on the development of additional general cultural competencies. The motivational structure of educational migration is dominated by the need for obtaining information about Russia. As an educational result, students name the expansion of their knowledge, primarily on the culture, history, and traditions of the host community. Among the barriers to successful mastering a short-term educational program, students mentioned, above all, their own weak language competence. To improve the quality of the «Summer University» project implementation, foreign students indicated the need to reduce bureaucratic barriers in preparing documents, settlement etc., as well as the organization of leisure activities. For the university, the project opens the opportunities of further attracting students for undergraduate and postgraduate programs, whereas interacting with leading enterprises and organizations in the city and region might increase Chinese students’ familiarity with the territory and its attractiveness for their future academic mobility. It is particularly important to aim such projects at the development of general cultural competencies.