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FEDERAL STATE AUTONOMOUS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

FOR HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

Faculty of Humanities

BACHELOR'S PROJECT

Field of study: Linguistics

Degree programme: Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication

Intercultural Conflicts in Academic Environment

Usanov Maxim Dmitrievich

Reviewer

Ph. D of Pedagogical Sciences

Trubaneva N.N.

Supervisor

Docent Kolesnikova E.A.

Moscow, 2019

Introduction

The system of higher education is evolving in response to several global processes and tendencies of the contemporary society. The major tendencies of the modern world influence the educational system and specifically academic environment in several ways. On the one hand, they provide academics with a broad range of opportunities for development, on the other hand, come up with latter-day challenges that require changes and adaptation of the system to the renewed reality.

There are two major interconnected processes affecting modern educational system. The first one is globalization as a tendency for global interdependence and partnership. The interconnectedness of the world is becoming tighter with the attempts of the governments to cooperate and share progress and innovations. The tendency can be seen in almost all spheres of people's lives. Therefore, educational system has confronted with the need to meet the requirements and use the opportunities of globalization, which has resulted in the internationalization of higher education. The second process - high level of international and intra - state academic mobility - may be considered as a consequence of internationalization of education. Academic mobility is understood in the paper as a temporary endeavor of movement to another region's university to study or work (Kharitonova, 2012). The tendency covers two aspects of academic mobility - international and intra - state variants. International exchange is a priority for modern academics. It ensures the exchange of knowledge, innovation, and enrichment of approaches to educational process. Intra - state academic mobility, which is the opportunity for students from other regions and universities to come to Moscow or other big cities' academies and continue their study. The tendency is relevant for Russia as a multicultural state with more than 180 nationalities. The strategy of the university development includes the statements of the selection and involvement of best and most valuable forces to the academy in order to raise profitability and prestige.

The tendencies described above result in the fact that academic environment is facing many culturally based communication problems, leading to emerging of conflict situations. Nevertheless, academic environment frames the context for students to learn and develop their knowledge and skills, possessing its own distinctive features in almost every culture. Conflicts as clashes or incompatibilities of views caused by cultural differences of students in international education perspective are, thereby, mostly destructive as they tend to lower students' motivation and comfort level.

Thus, it is substantial to focus on intercultural conflicts in academic environment. The aim of the following research is to define intercultural conflict within academic setting and point out its major characteristics. The scope of the paper includes the reasons and outcomes for the conflicts to emerge within academic setting.

The main object of the following research is the phenomenon of intercultural conflict. As a sociological phenomenon, this notion has its own distinctive features as an object of research. The following paper perceives intercultural conflict as a complex notion of clash of vies and incompatibility of beliefs, concentrating on its main characteristics.

The subject of the research is the phenomenon of intercultural conflict observed in academic environment. This way, we investigate specific features this notion obtains in academics, reasons for intercultural conflicts in the academic setting, and its influence on education and students' well-being.

For the purpose of the research the following research questions are formulated:

1. What is the essence of intercultural conflict in academic environment?

2. What are the reasons for intercultural conflict in academic environment?

3. What are the typical outcomes of intercultural conflict in academic environment?

The notions of conflict, culture, and academic environment have been studied in multidisciplinary perspective for many years, providing wide theoretical background for the following research. The study of intercultural conflicts in academic environment was carried out from the perspective of international interactions - from the point of view of interaction with international students. However, the following research perceives intercultural conflict as the notion, representing not only inter - state interactions, but intra - state cultural differences as well. For Russian culture this view is particularly relevant as the cultural representation of the country is large. Thus, the following paper seeks to gather data on intra - state intercultural conflicts, based on cultural differences between representatives of different cultural groups within Russia, as well as inter - state.

The study collects and describes research data on the seminal notions for investigating intercultural conflicts. The interrelation between conflict, culture, and academic environment is being described and discussed. In practical terms the study will contribute to the understanding of cultural problems faced on a particular educational programme. The research lays the foundation for the improvement of academic environment of the university by observing and analyzing the current situation.

The study uses qualitative research design approach in order to collect information on students' real-life experiences, opinions, and expressions. Sample of convenience is taken from the population, consisting of all students of HSE's `Foreign languages and cross-cultural communication' educational programme. The main research method is survey which is used in order to collect information about the sample. The method allows gathering the information from a large group of students about their attitudes towards intercultural conflicts, their experiences, awareness of the studied phenomenon, and their evaluation of the academic environment they are studying at.

The following paper consists of introduction, two chapters, conclusion, and references.

The introduction states the relevance of the research by discussing major tendencies of the modern world, describes the object and the subject of the research, defines the aim of the research and formulates the research questions. The brief description of the research methodology and the structure of the work with the description of each part are also included in the introduction.

The first chapter, which is the theoretical framework of the research, presents the theoretical foundations of the following paper. In this section three seminal notions, which are conflict, culture, and academic environment, are discussed and described. The chapter is divided into three paragraphs each of which focuses on one particular notion respectively.

The second chapter is dedicated to the research design, findings, and discussion, and divided accordingly. In the first paragraph of this chapter the research design is described and the choice of the method explained. The second paragraph presents the results of the survey consisting of two questionnaires conducted in order to answer research questions. The final paragraph of the chapter - Discussion - is dedicated to the analysis of the results achieved; limitations of the research conducted, and further investigation of the topic.

Conclusion summarizes the results of the theoretical and practical chapters, draws up a conclusion of the whole paper.

The last part of the paper - References - presents the list of sources used for the research work.

academic conflict educational programme

1. Literature Review on the Seminal Notions of the Research

1.1 Understanding Conflict: Typologies and Sources

This paper focuses on the notion of conflict. The word `conflict' comes from Latin `conflictus' meaning `a striking together'. Later, the word obtained the meaning `a struggle', `a quarrel' and then `discord of action, feeling, or effect, clashing of opposed principles' (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). In contemporary research literature `conflict' possesses various definitions based on various features the notion includes. There are many definitions which describe the concept according to its nature, functions, and sources. Coser (1956) defines conflict as a fight between opposing parties over values and demands to scarce status, power and resources. Schelling (1960) draws a parallel between conflict process and bargaining, highlighting the interdependence of both parties involved in the conflict. Deutsch (1973) puts a stress on the effectiveness, interference and incompatibilities in parties' actions. Pruitt and Rubin (1986) point out the factors of interest and mutual beliefs, ingrained in the context of the conflict process (Lyamouri-Bajja, N., Genneby, N., Markosyan, R., Ohana, Y., 2012). Roger D. Fisher defines conflict as an `incompatibility of goals or values between two or more parties in a relationship, combined with attempts to control each other and antagonistic feelings toward each other' (Fisher, 1990). At the end of 20th century the factor of communication and interaction becomes a major trend in scholars' definitions (Conrad, 1991; Tjosvold and Van de Vliert, 1994; Folger, Poole and Stutman, 1993). The phenomenon of conflict, therefore, is perceived as an interaction between two or more parties, when at least one of the parties consider their interests and beliefs to be incompatible with the other one. The stress is being put on the interactive component of conflict situation that is incompatible communicative actions or interference within cooperative or competitive settings (Tjosvold and Van de Vliert, 1994; Folger, Poole and Stutman, 1993).

With the development of the society, the notion of conflict was described from ample perspectives and was studied in multiple disciplines, which reflects its multidisciplinary capability. Social psychology contributed a lot to the development of the notion through years. There it is defined as a situation in which two or more groups perceive that their targets and/or concerns are in direct contradiction with one another and make a decision to act on the basis of this feeling (Bar-Tal, 2011). Here the focus is on the fact that conflict arises from people's perception of things. When people's goals or interests are perceived as being in direct contradiction with someone's, the conflict emerges. What is more, the process of conflict is being influenced by our perceptions, thus people tend to appeal to their own feelings and thoughts while confronting someone.

Categorization of conflict in view of the concept's versatility is based on diverse factors, leading to a bunch of different typologies to emerge. Different aspects may lay the foundations to categorize conflicts and cluster them into groups. According to several bases of classification, conflicts may be classified according to their duration, scale, context, display, consequences, motivation, intensity, use of violence, and parties. For the purpose of this research, context as a basis of conflict is in the focus. In this classification, political, economic, organizational, ideological, and cultural conflicts are distinguished. Culture conflict and ideological conflict set a basis for our further research, so these two types are in the focus of the research. Jonathan H. Turner (2006) defined cultural conflict as the one that arises on the grounds of clashes of cultural values and beliefs, thereby causing a contradiction between different groups of people. Ideological conflict in its core is very close to cultural conflict. Ideology in its broad meaning is a shared system of beliefs, concepts, values, and emotions which unites people into a group by giving them the sense of identity. Thus, ideology and culture are close-knit notions, however culture incorporates much broader meaning that ideology, which is a part of a culture and is based on the principles of a particular culture.

Another classification is essential for the purpose of this paper. As conflicts occur by reason, or source, the classification based on the motivation was suggested by an American psychologist Daniel Katz (1965) who distinguished three main sources of conflict. The first one is economic, thus conflict is brought by the desire to possess scarce resources which are looked for by different confronting parties. This type concentrates on materialistic nature of conflict. The second is power, which means that conflicts are brought by the desire of gaining and maximizing one's party influence over the other. There the focus is on social nature of the conflict. The last source distinguished by Katz is value, by which the scholar means incompatibility of parties' sets of values and culture, ideology, which causes wars, genocides, disputes, and misunderstanding in a workplace.

Ineffective communication is sometimes perceived as another source of the conflict. Even if there are no incompatibilities between parties, misunderstanding and misinterpreting of the messages caused by different perceptions of the situation leads to conflict. In a broader context, as communication patterns and norms are a part of a culture, this type may be referred to as a part of cultural conflict.

Two typologies described show that cultural conflict, being perceived as a type of conflict, on a par with other sources, is of great interest in research literature nowadays. Both typologies use the term `value' to describe cultural conflict. The notion of value has become a popular subject of research literature nowadays. Since many researches in diverse disciplines and attempts to define the concept were carried over, many different and sometimes contradictory and ambiguous definitions emerged. The basic definition of `values' in cultural studies context is given by Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.), which defines `values' as principles that help people to decide what is right or wrong, thus helping to choose how to act in different situations according to these principles.

Same as the notion of conflict, the versatility of the notion `value' has led to different views and classifications to emerge (Hodgkinson, 1978; Ashbaugh & Kasten, 1984). The conception of value suggested by Beck (1993) points out five categories of values:

· Basic values relate to humans' basic needs like survival, social recognition, health, and happiness (Beck, 1993);

· Spiritual values relate to ethereal qualities like awareness, hope, love, and gratitude (Beck, 1993);

· Moral values relate to concepts of honesty, fairness, and honour (Beck, 1993);

· Social and Political values relate to basic social functioning as citizenship and justice (Beck, 1993);

· Intermediate range and Specific values relate to personal needs and desires (Beck, 1993).

Every person possesses their own system of values, based on personal background and life experience. Conflict, as an incompatibility of values, may emerge on the basis of different perceptions of concepts that are culturally based and differ in several ways in almost every culture. K. Zupan (2012) in the work `Values, Conflicts & Value Conflict Resolution: An Investigation of the Experiences of Educational Administrators' refers to Begley's model (2003), where the scholar distinguishes different sources of value conflicts. The scholar points out self, group, professional, organizational, cultural, and transcendental sources of value conflicts. One, two or more sources may cause value clashes, and culture as one of them is of the main focus in this paper.

Cultural conflict in the meaning of the conflict that emerges when two cultural backgrounds collide may be referred to as intercultural conflict in this paper. According to Ting-Toomey and Oetzel (2001), intercultural conflict is based on clashes of values, traditions, resources, goals, or outcomes in a face-to-face context. Intercultural conflicts may arise on the basis of verbal or nonverbal misunderstanding that is predetermined by socio-cultural differences of the parties. Lack of intercultural competence, that is awareness of the differences in parties' perceptions and behavioral practices, is also seen as a source of intercultural conflict (Lukesova, 2014). Therefore, the notion of culture as a context and a source of conflicts requires the further look at culture as a reason for incompatibilities of views and conflicts' emergence.

1.2 The Multifaceted Notion of Culture from Different Perspectives

The term `culture' incorporates many diverse meanings, thus being versatile. The scholars agreed on the fact that there is no single `best' definition of culture. Nevertheless, many scholars attempt to make a definition of the term based on different traditions. Among three dominant traditions described by Peng, Ames, and Knowles (2000) (the value, the self, and the theory), Dutch researcher Greet Hofstede (1991) defined culture as the programming of the mind in a collectivity which differentiates the members of the group or different people from one another. Thus, culture is perceived as a system that creates a particular `meaning' for the group and distinguishes it from other groups. Hofstede distinguishes several crucial dimensions on which cultures may be compared. These include power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism (Hofstede, 1991). Culture in this sense can be seen as the factor that shapes the behavior of people who belong to differing groups based on the levels of dimensional influence.

Another scholar, Edward Hall in his books The Silent Language (1959), The hidden dimension (1966), Beyond Culture (1976), Dance of life, another dimension of time (1989), and Hidden Differences: Studies in International Communication (1983-1985), developed a theory in which he distinguished several factors that differentiate cultures: context, time, and space. Hall's theory divides cultures according to the way people perceive these factors, considering cognitive processes and decision-making styles of humans. Thus, the theory puts a stress on the importance of understanding cultural differences ingrained in the way people think, react, and behave in certain situations. The factors described by Hall lay the foundation for the investigation of the consequences of the differences in our minds. Furthermore, comprehension of cultural factors allows us to understand the nature of conflict situations and misunderstandings that occur between different cultural groups.

Culture shapes communication of different groups of people. From the point of view of communicative perspective, at root, culture is a code (Griffin, 2012). The study of speech codes, which are historically enacted, socially constructed systems of terms, meanings, premises, and rules pertaining to communicative conduct, leads to the assumption that speech codes vastly affect intercultural communication, thus contributing to the possibility of intercultural conflict to emerge. The theory was worked out by Philipsen (1997), who outlines the core of speech codes theory in six general propositions:

1. Speech codes are distinctive, thus vary in each distinctive culture, which contributes to misunderstandings caused by different interpretations of messages (Griffin, 2012).

2. People are affected by several speech codes at the same time, and they may deploy dual codes in parallel in any given speech community (Griffin, 2012).

3. Speech codes involve culturally distinctive psychology (as any speech code thematizes the individual's nature in a particular way), sociology (as speech codes provide a system of answers about what links between self and others can properly be sought, what resources can be employed in order to seek those links), and rhetoric (as the discovery of truth and persuasive appeal) (Griffin, 2012).

4. The meaning of speech codes is conveyed by people themselves and their perceptions of the concept or a word rather than by initial meanings of words. To understand the significance of a speech practice we must listen to people's interpretations of their communication, the way people talk about the code and respond to it (Griffin, 2012).

5. The terms, rules, and premises of a speech code are inseparably woven into the process of speaking. Speech codes may be studied by anyone who attempts to do it. Totemizing rituals offer a window to a culture's speech code. The communication ritual follows a typical sequence: initiation, acknowledgement, negotiation, and reaffirmation (Griffin, 2012).

6. The knowledge and understanding of cultural speech codes may help an observant or participant predict or control what others will say and how they will interpret the messages said (Griffin, 2012).

Therefore, the theory presents the view of communicative aspect of culture, stating that cultural factors influence the communication patterns. Different cultures possess different speech codes systems, and in order to succeed in intercultural interaction, the awareness of the communication principles and norms is needed. As a part of a culture, differences in communication principles and misunderstanding of other culture's speech code may lead to the clash of opinions and conflict.

Culture is an acknowledged influential factor in many spheres of people's lives and may be observed from diverse perspectives. Many scholars have revisited the impact of the cultural factor on education through the years of research. One of the theories, the cultural deficit theory, originate from the seminal work of Pierre Bourdieu Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction (1977), where the scholar described the notion of `cultural capital', which was further developed in Bourdieu's work The Forms of Capital (1986). Cultural capital incorporates the ability of the person to communicate and integrate into unfamiliar dominant culture. The scholars view cultural capital as one of the instrumental in education, as it affects the level of students' performance (Bourdieu, 1986). The cultural deficit theory states that the lack of cultural background i.e. social skills, linguistic skills, cultural upbringing, negatively influences the level of student's performance. Thus, the theory puts a stress on the way education and culture are interconnected.

Another scholar, Sonia Nieto, in the study of interrelation of culture and education, has defined culture as the set of values, traditions, relationships, and worldview created and disseminated by people who are bound together by historical, geographical, linguistic, religious, or social factors (Nieto, 2008). Every person has his/ her own culture, including its elements: content or product, process, and the agents of culture (Nieto, 2008). The scholar points out several cultural attributes that are instrumental to understand while observing cultural impact on the educational process. Nieto considers culture as being dynamic, multifaceted, context - based, social, learned, dialectical phenomenon, considering all these attributes as crucial in academic environment (Nieto, 2008).

The role of culture in educational process and the way culture shapes the process of studying have been widely discussed in the research literature. Frederick Erickson in the paper Culture Difference and Science Education (1986) compares educational process with cross - cultural communication. The scholar focuses on the way culture preconditions the students' attitude towards learning process and education activities. Culture, according to Erickson, affects the way we approach the subject matter because in any situation our presuppositions about the nature of the world are ingrained in the way we perceive the situation and the object (Erickson, 1986). In the paper Conceptions of School Culture: An Overview (1987), Erickson discusses the essence of culture in school environment. The conceptions described presume that culture is an `ideational process', by which the author means that culture is not the behavior itself, but `the set of interpretive frames for making sense of behavior' (Erickson, 1987). Culture is, for the most part, implicit and the patterns of behavior and reaction are held `outside conscious awareness' (Erickson, 1987).

From the conflictology scientific point of view, cultural difference should not be seen per se as an autonomous cause of conflict. However, culture can be compared to the refracting lens through which the perceptions according to which conflict proceeds along are formed. Culture frames the context in which conflict situation emerges by indicating what sorts of resources are subjects for dispute or objects of competition by positioning their high value or relative scarcity. It does so also by determining rules for how contests will be pursued, including when and how to begin and end them (Avruch, 1998).

Intercultural conflict depends a lot on the communication patterns as miscommunication can be perceived as one of the most frequent reasons for the intercultural conflict to emerge. Intercultural communication is defined as communication in which two people (or two groups) of different cultures are in interaction, and negotiate common meaning (Ting-Toomey, 1999). As mentioned before, communication is a part of one's culture. Philipsen (1997) describes culture as “a socially constructed and historically transmitted pattern of symbols, meanings, premises, and rules.”

For the following research, it is crucial to distinguish between the terms intercultural, cross - cultural, and multicultural communication. Intercultural communication highlights the mutual share of ideas and cultural beliefs, the interrelations and interconnections of different cultures; it focuses on the development of deep relationships (The United Church of Canada, 2011; Fries, 2008). The term refers to the reciprocal relationships between cultures, in which they transform and build relationships and deep connections (Schriefer, 2018). Thus, the stress is put onto interactive and inclusive feature of two or more cultures or within one cultural group. Cross -cultural communication stresses the fact that there are boundaries between cultures. The term is widely used when cultures are compared or described in relation to one another. Multicultural refers to mutual existence of diverse cultures alongside. The term does not include the mutual relationships of cultural groups; however it stresses the importance of mutual respect and tolerance (Schriefer, 2018). This term is used when people refer to specificities of different cultures in relation that does not require mutual interaction or comparison.

The cultural factor in education system is being observed in this research through the phenomenon of conflict. The phenomenon is representative as in a situation of intercultural conflict or misunderstanding cultural factors can be observed and analyzed. In the academic setting, intercultural conflict reflects the specificity of the environment of the particular academic culture. In order to understand the environment in which intercultural conflict is being observed, academic environment and academic culture will be discussed in the next part of the chapter.

1.3 Academic Environment as a Network System and its Elements

Intercultural conflicts are being considered in the paper in academic setting. Psychology Dictionary (n.d.) defines academic environment as the atmosphere in which a person attempts to learn, which can aid in the learning experience or distract from and diminish it. Traditionally, academic environment is being considered as `a system of norms and rules of general educational and scientific activities characteristic of the particular community, as well as a set of resource, expert and status networks conditioned by these norms' (Avakyan, 2017). Academic environment may be described as open or closed. Open environments are characterized by high mobility of its members, while closed are characterized by the closeness of the community and the locality of academic conventions, members' mobility is significantly closer in such academic settings (Avakyan, 2017).

Academic environment is a complex structure, comprising many spheres. They include educational and scientific activities, academic institutions, academic computer science, academic writing and communication, academic mobility, academic management, advanced training and academic status. Student self-government: volunteer activities; supervision; holding cultural, entertainment, sports and scientific events; student unions and teams may also be included in the areas which form academic environment (Ermilova & Mashtakova, 2016).

Oganyan and Khloptsov (2018) perceive academic environment as a network structure, the institutional characteristics of which predetermine the permanent formation external network interactions in order to realize the mission of the university. Academic environment is a complex structure with its own features and norms, though there is no one unified academic environment as cultural peculiarities are ingrained in the very way in which academic work and communication are being done. Studying or working in a different from one's own cultural environment exposes students and teachers to the reality of cultural difference and the possibility of calls to their sense of themselves. It confronts students and teachers with different cultural practices, social relations and values (Bodycott, 2015).

The importance of academic environment is being discussed in research literature. With the tendency of globalization and internationalization of higher education, universities are being ranked according the criteria of their `quality' of education. In the article `Quality in Contemporary University Environment' Markulik, Solc, Sutoova (2014) describe the current scales of evaluation of universities. The scholars raise the question of the importance of academic environment, though almost not being included in the scales, in evaluation of universities. Furthermore, cultivation of intercultural competencies is being regarded as one of the ways of enrichment of the education system in a situation of multicultural world. The implementation of the principles of internationalized education will prepare students for future life in a globalized reality (Csikosova, Teplicka, and Senova, 2012). Therefore, academic environment is being regarded as an essential part of the university, which should be taken into consideration in evaluation process. The scholars acknowledge the need for academic environment to meet the opportunities given by globalization with positive outcomes it brings to the university.

Each particular academic environment possesses specific academic culture. Moreover, academic culture predetermines and shapes the specificity of a particular academic environment. Academic culture may be defined as `the network system of values, norms, rules, patterns of behavior, methods of activity, principles of communication, based on pedagogically adapted experience of scientific cognitive activity' (Erokhina, 2014). It may be seen through the prism of one particular university or as a concept which is typical of the whole country's educational system. With internationalization of education, the term has been casted doubt on the grounds that nowadays it is irrelevant to speak about the presence of culture in academy. However, the matter of academic culture still maintains its fundamental importance for learning environments and a system of education as a whole.

Another scholar, K. Harman (2010) defined academic culture as the representation of traditions, myths, values, and expectations that are `sui generis' to particular academy's life and work. The scholar put a stress on the notion of academic values, which are defined as strongly held and transmitted beliefs and norms that guide academy's work and life.

Each academic culture possesses several integral tenets which are academic freedom, collegiality, and professional autonomy (Harman, 2010). Academic freedom refers to the unladen search for truth and freedom of the research and opinion. All the researchers at the university should have a right to study their field of interest and publish their works, express their views in public performances without fear of being punished (Harman, 2010). Collegiality refers to mutual support, professional sharing of views and findings at the university (Harman, 2010, Anderson et al., 2002). Professional autonomy means that academics have the ability to express their professional assertion about what they teach and research (Harman, 2010). Aside from the three major elements, creativity, peer's critical assessment, and integrity in research and other connected areas of the university life are also acknowledged integral elements of academic culture of the university (Harman, 2010).

There are several considerable problems when it comes to discussing the essence of academic culture. In the academic world, culture may come into play in two senses. Firstly, culture may shape the relationships between internal groups in a system of the university. Thus, culture predetermines the way different groups or parts of the system communicate and interconnect, how they differentiate each other, to what extent do they separate their groups from the other in an institution. Secondly, culture shapes the relations of the university with the external sources and outside society. Thus, culture predetermines the way an institution maintains its relationships with other institutions and systems that do not belong to their own. Furthermore, this implies that culture predetermines the supportive or oppositional behavior to the cultural norms of the outside society (Barnett, 2014).

Scholars offered several approaches to systematically understand academic culture. One of them, Ian McNay (2012), attributed academic culture to one of the species of the organizational culture. Formerly, on the basis of organizational policy and system of control of its implementation (with two opposite poles: loose to tight), Dopson and McNay (1996) divided universities into four groups taking into account their academic culture specificities:

1. Collegium

This type of university is based on the principles of consensus and compromise. In this case, individuals have enough influence to control changes and decisions of the management. In these universities, transactional leadership is the most common type, thus the power of persuasion is also very high (Pielmus, 2016).

2. Bureaucracy

In this type of university culture, the procedures have a great matter for administration and management. The information is controlled by administration, and rules and regulations have much more power than individuals (Pielmus, 2016).

3. Corporation

This type is more flexible than the previous one. The most important distinctive feature is that in this type of academic culture, transformational leadership brings more benefits as charisma, innovativeness, and visionary of the leader have a great influence (Pielmus, 2016).

4. Enterprise

The last type's main distinctive feature is its orientation towards the outer environment and commerce. Though these goals are often unattractive for academics, this type's main strength is innovativeness and inclusiveness, as this type is favorable for intercultural interactions (Pielmus, 2016).

Globalization and internationalization of education are interconnected processes, influencing the academic culture and environment of the universities across the globe. At the earlier stages of the process of the internationalization, the scholars have perceived the process in a narrower context, for example, Knight (1997) stresses the process of incorporating intercultural dimension into teaching and research practices of the institution. Later the concept has gained much broader context. Harman (2005) highlighted the influence of internationalization on diverse and multi-layered practices which include the curriculum, global movements of the academic staff and students, relationships between universities and educational services (Ng, Fox, & Nakano, 2016). Nowadays we acknowledge the overarching influence of globalization and internationalization of education of all the spheres that are incorporated in education, including academic environment as a distinctive notion of research.

In a contemporary society academic environment is changing a lot; the tendency for internationalized academics is predominant and inevitable in the globalized world. Current integration processes in the world community affect both the higher education system in general and closed academic environments in particular. The question of scholars' mobility and integrity into foreign academics has gained high importance nowadays as it contributes to the competitiveness of the country's universities and the development of a common labor market (Avakyan, 2017).

Being one of the elements of educational and scientific development, academic mobility is an essential part of the modern educational system. As it was mentioned in the introduction section, academic mobility is understood in the paper as a temporary endeavor of movement to another region's university to study or work (Kharitonova, 2012). This phenomenon may be understood as the willingness and ability of people to change their status, professional affiliation, and place of living. Academic mobility is perceived as a social phenomenon. It is aimed at strengthening bonds between universities and developing academic cooperation. This process allows exchanging intellectual capital, and it contributes to the development of the curricula, adapting new technologies in education and educational procedures (Rostovtseva & Izvekov, 2015). The essence of academic may be investigated from two aspects. On the one hand, it is a social phenomenon - the product of European education system reforms. On the other hand, it is a personal quality, which is necessary for the adaptation of students in the modern educational environment (Rostovtseva & Izvekov, 2015).

Basically, there are two vectors of academic mobility: the outer vector (inter - state) and internal vector (intra - state). The former is aimed at integration into the international educational space, the development of international connections of the universities (Rostovtseva & Izvekov, 2015). This implies studying of undergraduate and graduate students or the work of teachers in foreign universities and educational or scientific institutions. The latter - internal vector - is aimed at developing inter - universities (intra - state) relations within one country (Rostovtseva & Izvekov, 2015). This implies the studying of undergraduate students and graduate students or the work of teachers at Russian universities and research centers. Bologna process has also distinguished two other types of academic mobility - horizontal and vertical. Horizontal mobility implies the education for a limited period - year or semester. Vertical mobility implies complete education for a degree - bachelor's, master's or Ph. D (Kharitonova, 2012).

Academic mobility is an endeavor that requires certain qualities from the one who decided to change the academics. One of the crucial competencies is communicative competency, which is of high importance when the person encounters different cultural norms, academic culture standards and academic environment. The process of academic mobility is a challenging process for the personality, and the scholars acknowledge the difficulties of academic mobility. First of all, there are economic barriers that lie in the fact that student access to academic mobility depends on financing, as living and studying involve significant investments. The amount of investment is determined by the policy of the country as well as the specific university in regarding tuition fees. This barrier frequently makes an academic mobility inaccessible to a large number of students. Secondly, there are institutional barriers which stem from the specificity of the educational system and are mainly related to the problem of coincidence or inconsistency of the credit policy adopted by national educational systems. Finally, significant obstacle in the development of the academic mobility is considered to be insufficiently developed special pedagogical conditions that likewise hinder the development of academic mobility (Kharitonova, 2012).

Therefore, every state aims at developing academic mobility level in order to raise competitiveness of the universities. The growing number of exchange students and students from different cultural background exposes academic environment to new conditions. At the same time, academic environment is influenced by academic mobility as conflict potential increases because of representatives of different cultures placed together.

Academic environment, therefore, as a place where intercultural conflict takes place, imposes its own rules and features, influencing the process and basis for conflict situations. Within the context of a particular academic environment, intercultural conflict occurs within the reality of the university, reflecting its norms, values, and problems. High level of academic mobility leads to the multicultural composition of students and teachers studying and working within one academic environment and culture, which leads to higher risks of confrontation and misunderstandings.

2. Intercultural Conflicts at `Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication' educational programme

2.1 Research Design

The following paper seeks to gather data on conflicts situations faced by students in academic setting of HSE University. Qualitative approach is chosen because the paper focuses on the meaning of students' life experiences and attitudes. The goal is to describe and understand the roots of intercultural conflicts faced by programme's students, reasons and resolutions of the conflict situations. The need for the broad and deep evaluation of the concept and examining what students think, how they think, and the way they act when face intercultural conflicts in academic setting predetermines the choice of research design. The research was conducted onto intercultural conflicts faced by students of Department of foreign languages of NRU HSE. For the purpose of the research, a sample of convenience is taken from the population, consisting of HSE's students. All students of the educational programme `Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication' were asked to fill in a questionnaire in order to collect data for further analysis.

Foreign students, who study in Russia as in a foreign country, though included in the sample, represent the separate block of analysis for the research. This group of students was asked to fill in the questionnaire different from the one given to other students of the programme.

For the purpose of the research, a questionnaire consisting of eleven questions was given to all students of educational programme `Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication'. It includes seven multiple-choice questions and four open answer questions. Multiple choice questions included four questions where the students were asked to grade their attitude with the use of Likert scale (from 1 - completely disagree to 5 - completely agree). The other three multiple - choice questions answers varied in accordance to the questions. Before answering questions, students were offered to read a short outline of the research being done with a notice of the basic operational definition of intercultural conflict being investigated in the research. The questionnaire questions are presented in the table:

The questionnaires were spread among the students via social networks and mail service. Students of the first one were asked to voluntarily take part and anonymously fill in the questionnaire. Foreign students were asked slightly different questions because we assume their attitude and perception of the phenomenon of intercultural conflicts may significantly differ from the other students'. Foreign students were asked to answer the set of questions about themselves and then were asked to think of any situation of intercultural conflicts they have faced while studying in HSE.

2.2 Findings

The results of the survey provide us with a picture of a current situation on the programme `Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication'. The students' answers present their perception of the essence, reasons, and outcomes of intercultural conflict and the general extent to which academic environment of the programme is inclined to conflict situations.

Among the total N=142 participants, 45 first year students, 34 second year students, 30 third year students, and 33 fourth year students took part in the questionnaire.

The students were asked to evaluate their character on the matter of whether they consider themselves as conflicting people or not. The results show that more than 70 per cent of students (more than 100 out of the 142 students) of the programme do not consider themselves as being a conflictig person, thus being tolerant, calm, open - minded, and non - confronting people. Students evaluate themselves as not having the inclination to conflict situations, which should be reflected in the general extent to which academic environment of the programme is inclined to conflicts (its conflict capability level).

Further question aimed at eluciading whether students have faced intercultural conflicts in academic environment of the programme. The results show that approximately 1/3 of the respondents have faced intersultural conflicts while studying at HSE and are able to illustrate it with the example of a real situation. The reasons and the parties of the conflicts vary and will be described further.

The parties with whom the students most often face conflict is also a matter of interest for the following research. Students were offered to choose several parties with whom they think they have more conflicts. According to the survey, most of the respondents identified students as a party with whom they have disputes (77 students picked this party). 65 students picked teachers as a party with whom they have conflicts. 12 students picked administration as a party of conflict, and only 14 students picked the option `nobody'. The answers to this question show that students and teachers are considered to be the most frequent parties of the intercultural conflict at the programme, while administration is rarely involved in intercultural conflicts.

Among the reasons for intercultural conflicts, the majority of the students pointed out misunderstanding, miscommunication and unwillingness to understand other person as the main reason for conflict, cultural background and differences in the perception of the world have also been poined out by students. Cultural backgroud includes a wide range of principles influencing a person, such as religion, upbringing, social system and relationship traditions, attitude towards obscene lexicon and bad habits. All of the components were mentioned as sources of conflicts:

`I had a lot of conflicts with people of different religious and moral belief, most often we argue too fiercely about such issues as gay rights, feminism, freedom of speech/choice.'

`My group mate is from India. She is very absent - minded person and usually we make jokes because of it.'

`I have a misunderstandings with the Indian girl who studies with me. She behaves impolite with some students and teachers.'

`The girl from a Muslim country said that we can't be friends because I'm drinking alcohol.'

Among the minor reasons, mentioned by the minority of the respondents, grading system and attitude to project work, personal qualities, and generation gap and bias should be named. Some students consider grading system and work in teams to be one of the sources of intecultural conflicts, as students have different attitude towards rating system, which reflect their attitude towards project group work:

`Mostly cases of misunderstandings within the group projects. Conflict developes on a stage of planning the group work, and erupts (often silently) when students share their parts - usually those parts are not fully done/somebody discovers that he/she imagined this part done differently.'