INTER-CULTURAL COMPETENCE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The article presents the notion of intercultural competence. It grounds why it is becoming one of the vital components of modern university education and how to develop it using university and individuals' reserves. While correlating intercultural competence and intercultural communication, the author analyses the aspects and the functions of the latter. This enables the author to define the components of intercultural competence (gnoseological, axiological, praxeological) and specify the notion itself. The author suggests its own conception of this personal characteristics development. The process is described by building a model that has stages, mechanisms, and outcomes. The study also presents approaches and methods how to make university students inter-culturally competent.