International students of Penza State University took part in the VI International Scientific and Practical Conference "Current issues of studying mass consciousness", which took place on March 19-20.

Within the framework of the section "Social and psychological aspects of cultural transmission”, representatives of Russian universities and universities in Kazakhstan and Ukraine, as well as PSU international students from Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Tajikistan, discussed the most pressing issues.

Topics for the discussion were devoted to the problem of cross-border features of interethnic interaction, the influence of digital technologies and social networks on the mental and physical health of children, cultural and leisure activities as a tool for the socialization of international students, pedagogical support for adaptation of international students through the organization of national holidays, as well as features and trends in the development of distance education, etc.

The forum participants were particularly interested in the report made by the section moderator Sergey Ivanchin, Head of the International Education Office, Institute of International Cooperation, PSU, who presented the results of empirical research on the adaptive willingness of international students to educational activities in a university. Sergey Ivanchin has been conducting this research since 2019 together with the Department of General Psychology under the guidance of Professor Vsevolod Konstantinov.

According to S. Ivanchin: “The relevance of our research is increasing due to the annual quantitative growth in the number of international students at our university. It is fundamentally important for us to understand the key factors of adaptive willingness of students to educational activities and the reasons that cause the emergence of difficulties in the process of students’ adaptation."

The collection of articles on the results of the conference will be published and indexed in the RSCI.