Introduction. In modern conditions, the development of international cooperation in the field of higher education is an urgent task for most countries. The socialization of student youth plays a leading role in the process of cultural rapprochement of peoples and integration of the world community. The purpose of the study is to identify the conditions and psychological characteristics of international students that ensure the effectiveness of the socialization process in the university’s multicultural educational environment. Materials and methods. The research involved 60 students of Penza state university (the ethnical composition of the respondents – the Arabs, the Indians, the Kyrgyz, the Turkmen, the Tajiks; the average age of the respondents – 21; the gender structure of the respondents – male – n=30, female – n=30). A set of diagnostic methods was employed to find out social and psychological peculiarities of students’ socialization. The analysis of cognitive component formation was carried out by means of the method “Tolerance index” (G.U. Soldatova and others). To determine the action-behavior component formation the method “The adaptation of a person to a new sociocultural environment” (L.V. Yankovskii). To determine the reflexive-valuation component formation an expert inquiry in the form of a qualitative nonformalized focused personal interview was carried out. Research results are presented an empirical study of the process of student youth’ socialization in the conditions of internationalization of the university educational environment. It was substantiated the feasibility of implementing the author's model of socialization of international students in the university’ multicultural educational environment. The results of the study can be applied to develop a comprehensive program for the socialization of students in the context of the internationalization of higher education.