The article is devoted to the problem of intercultural communication in the educational environment of the university. The ideas of foreign students about their ethnic group characteristics and the image of the ethnic groups of the host community are considered. The authors relied on the sociocultural approach of Pitirim Sorokin, as well as the representative of symbolic interactionism Herbert Bloomer. The research tasks were to study the ideas of foreign students about the characteristics that determine intercultural interaction in the student environment, the influence of stereotypes on social behavior of an individual. The results obtained allowed us to formulate conclusions: