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In the former Soviet Union translators/interpreters-to-be were trained only in a few field-specific linguistic (and in a couple of military institutions. Later, in XXI, Russia signed the Bologna Declaration, Russian institutes and universities got an opportunity to choose what they teach, were allowed to provide commercial services and many introduced both short-term training courses for translators/interpreters and long-term BA / MA translator training programs as the social demand for translators increased. This paper discusses various ways and means of translator/interpreter training both in Russia and abroad together with those practiced in Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education. The paper also presents the results of regular anonymous questionnaires among the students dealing with links between our teaching and students' views in order to facilitate both students' professional training and to make the curriculum more adaptive to the present-day situation on the job market. The results showed that though most students' views on their future profession are rather vague, most of them are not disappointed in the profession chosen. Bachelors' and masters' attitudes and assessments, however, differ as senior students have more experience and can critically evaluate their future career perspectives. Master students value their university and practical experience more than bachelor students, they know more of the situation in the job market and are ready to face the challengers of this profession. The authors conclude that the existing BA / MA programs need changes considering both students' and their potential employers' interests and demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing an effective constructivist learning enaironment (hereinafter also referred to as CLE) for students is an essential task nowadays when on-line courses have become increasingly important in modern education and they will without any doubt become even more important in the future. But before start designing and developing CLEs it is necessary to have a clear, definitive idea of what CLEs are, or what they should look like. This study puts forward the idea of four levels of the constructivism methodological approach as a basis for developing any effective CLE: These levels are: 1. philosophical level of methodology; 2. general scientific methodology; 3. specific scientific methodology; and 4. technological methodology, which consists of research methods and techniques. The authors first consider the fourth (lower) technological methodology level and give a description of methods and techniques which can be fruitful for developing CLEs to enhance online courses. In this paper the researchers also draw out an initial draft of three fields of Digital Didactics (which is an old-new science which is being developed on the third level of the methodological approach and aimed to re-think the basis of Classical Didactics). These fields are a) teaching activities, b) learning activities and c) content and value aspects of education, all three presented through digitalisation of education in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercultural communication as an academic subject was introduced into linguistic Bachelor and Master education in Russia about twenty years ago. Unlike various aspects of linguistics, English studies, British and American literature which have been part and parcel of the curriculum in foreign language departments for many decades, this subject is new both to teachers and students. Its appearance in the curriculum is due to Russia's entering the global educational environment. This subject as central theoretical component of training specialists in foreign languages requires practical manuals with reference to new educational standards. Intercultural communication as a field of study is so wide that it requires the efforts of specialists in linguistics, psychology, cultural anthropology, etc. It is but natural that teaching intercultural communication in universities is limited mostly to contrastive insights into communication between representatives of two linguo-cultures - those of Russia and the country/countries of a foreign language (mostly English). This paper discusses various ways and means of developing intercultural competence, practiced in Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education. The paper also presents the results of regular anonymous questionnaires among our students dealing with teaching intercultural communication. The authors conclude that theory of intercultural communication is firmly rooted as the subject that forms young people's cultural awareness. Our experience shows that students are genuinely interested in the subject, mostly because of its possible application to their future profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European programmes and strategies to internationalise higher education are considered to be important stimulators and facilitators for the internationalisation of higher education in Europe and elsewhere in the world including Russia. With the Bologna process, the internationalisation of higher education in Russia has been taken to the national level. According to the National Program Education Development for 2013-2020, the internationalisation of higher education is considered as a means to improve the quality of higher education. The present article contains theoretical and practical results of the research, which fall into three parts. In the first part the authors systematise the issue of internationalisation by giving an overview. The paper focuses on the policies of internationalisation and the rationale of the internationalisation for Russian Universities which gleam in the growing importance of national and international rankings especially for evaluation of quality teaching and competitiveness of universities. The second part focuses on E-learning as particular aspect of internationalisation. The authors present the historic perspective of digital learning and dwell upon numerous initiatives on the digital revolution. The third part proves that professional development is an essential element of teacher education and professional advancement. Such a continuous learning and training assures a high level of knowledge and enables teachers to keep their professional skills and knowledge up-to-date. All three parts of the study are logically interconnected and serve the main objective of the research to prove that such processes as Internationalisation has considerable effect on developing Teacher Digital Competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]