Traditionally, autumn is not just the beginning of the academic year, but also the time of a variety of scientific events, which open a new stage of research and quest after a relatively calm summer vocation. Top scientists discuss scientific issues at numerous conferences, seminars, congresses and symposia, demonstrating the high potential of the local higher educational establishments. And Kharkiv National Automobile and Highway University is not an exception here. So, on October 1-2, 2015 at the department of foreign students’ training annual  International scientific-practical conference "Problems and prospects of language training of foreign students in higher education institutions" was held. This event, already traditional and well-known among teachers of Russian as a foreign language, was dedicated to 85 Anniversary of our university. This conference was co-founded by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (the City of Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan). By the beginning of the conference the manual of  its proceedings, containing  141 articles had been published.

At the plenary session the participants heard reports of representatives from Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia. In the course of the conference three sections were working. The largest number of participants was interested in section 1 "Traditional and innovative technologies in the methods of teaching Russian (Ukrainian) as a foreign language" (with assoc. Prof. L.S.Bezkorovayna in charge). The work of the second section "Psycho-pedagogical foundations of learning and cross-cultural communication in the theory and practice of teaching non-native language" was directed by the assoc. prof. N.S.Morgunova. Section 3 "Modern methods of teaching humanities and natural and special subjects in a foreign language" conducted its work under the chairmanship of the Sc.D. T.B.Nikitina. The conference featured presentations from 15 high schools of Kharkiv and other cities of Ukraine: Kyiv, Zaporizhzhya, Poltava, Kryvyi Rig, Odessa and Cherkasy. It is worth mentioning vast geography of  the conference foreign participants: Kazakhstan, Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Germany, the USA, Canada and Australia.

During fruitful and active discussion of the reports presented at the conference, the participants concluded that the main issues of optimization in educational process for foreign citizens are connected with the improvement of the means and methods of teaching. They require joint efforts of all the department staff involved in the preparation of foreign students. The basic principles of ensuring the development of methodological and practical concepts are as follow:

-         Development of new and improvement of old techniques and methods of training foreign citizens at different stages and forms of education;

-         Development and implementation of innovative computer technology, creation of modern software products for the educational process;

-   Significance of the role of extracurricular work as one of the ways to improve the cognitive-communicative competence of students.