A cross-cultural study of the adaptation of students enrolled in a non-resident or foreign university was conducted. The subject of study was the adaptation of students to new living conditions. The study involved 2 groups of respondents (N=40; age 17-24): first-year students from other cities of Russia and foreign exchange students who moved to St. Petersburg (G1) and students of the University of Salzburg (Austria) (G2 ). The study included two stages. Stage 1: a semi-structured interview aimed at identifying the psychological state of respondents after moving to another place of residence and psychological research using psycho-diagnostic methods (questionnaire of the socio-psychological adaptation of C. Rogers and R. Diamond, methods of “Motivation of achievement” and “Motivation for avoiding failures” T. Ehlers, risk inclination methodology by A. M. Schubert,). Stage 2: an interview revealing the psychological state of the subjects after 6-8 months. The results of the study showed that respondents from G1 compared with G2 more often communicate with parents, are more prone to dominance and are motivated to avoid failures. In turn, students from G2 are more motivated to achievements and adaptive, their indicators on the scales: “Self-acceptance”, “Emotional comfort” and “Internality” are higher, as well as the average score of their own general state. Also, students from G2 identified significantly fewer positive and negative events during their stay in the city than G1 respondents.Summarizing, we can say that students enrolled in a foreign university adapt to new conditions somewhat better than their peers who enrolled in universities in other cities within their country. Interesting was the fact that emigrant students are less attached to the house in principle and are looking for resources in themselves, but the stress, mobilization and psychological pressure of acculturation conditions affect the number of events that the respondent considers emotional and important.