SOCIAL ADAPTATION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN THE CONDITIONS OF TRAINING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Introduction. Social adaptation is an important part of adjustment of international students to training at educational establishments. Better academic achievements among international students are associated with the University membership and a high level of cross-cultural relations. All the components of social adaptation in the conditions of training during COVID-19 pandemic naturally have undergone substantial changes. It is also reflected on psychological state of students, since every country of residence introduced certain quarantine regulations at different times. Some of these regulations were rather strict including curfew and prohibition to leave the house. Under such conditions worries of parents concerning incidence of COVID-19 at home and the country of residence cannot be excluded, as well as intensification of nostalgia due to impossibility to cross the border and return home etc.Objective of our research was to study the main components forming social adaptation of international students in the conditions of quarantine caused by COVID-19.Materials and methods. Our study involved 220 junior students of the 1st-3rd years of training at Bukovinian State Medical University (BSMU). In order to obtain maximum objective and reliable results, the survey was anonymous and randomized involving every third student of a corresponding year of studies. The whole list of questions was arranged into one questionnaire. A student had to give a positive or negative answer. Social adaptation of international students was assessed by means of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) developed by Robert W. Baker and Bohdan Siryk (1989, 1994) with the author’s changes and modifications. About 85% of students involved in the survey were from India, about 4% – from Ghana, the rest 11% of the students were from other countries of Asia, Europe, Africa and USA.Results. Under conditions of transfer to the distance learning under pandemic conditions due to COVID-19 the components of social adaptation of international students remain on rather high levels. Thus, the level of general social adaptation under the above conditions remained on the highest and high rates among 55% international learners of higher education, and the rate of social distancing and communication with other people was in 41,4% of foreigners. Nostalgia level was maximum among 55,5% of international students under quarantine conditions of studies, and the rates of social adaptation to