The Paper discusses the main characteristics of educational programs for pre-master training of foreign students in engineering and natural sciences. The most important feature of these programs is the individualized approach together with the orientation of the program on the student's master study area. We give the brief description of pre-master program content. In addition, we emphasize on the requirements to Russian language training of the students. We show the importance of preparing and public demonstration of presentations related to the bachelor final works of the students. Based on the analysis we give the recommendations for improving the quality of pre-master training. © 2019 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.