RESEARCH-BASED CURRICULUM FOR UNIVERSITY FRESHMEN INTERNATIONALIZATION

The papers explore the components of the research-based curriculum with the view to foster students' internationalization within the university environment. The research stood on the concepts of internationalization, research-led curriculum, content and language integrated learning, integration of formal and non-formal learning within academic curriculum. The research methodology combined field and desk studies. Literature review laid grounds for experiment methodology that included pilot training, specific materials design, combination of inquiry-based, problem-solving, project-based teaching strategies. Observation of students learning progress and students' surveys were central part of research. Cluster analysis was used to identify those components that proved to be critical for building research-based curriculum for first-year students. Factor analysis contributed to understanding of those factors that university freshmen consider most important for their academic studies internationalization.