The article describes functions and authorities of academic councils of Ukrainian universities as the basis of their autonomy in historical aspect. The purpose of the paper is to study academic council activity evolution in Ukrainian Universities of the XIX-th century through singling out and characterization its stages from the modern standpoint to strengthen university autonomy, develop the quality of university management and prevent mistakes and shortcomings of the previous period. The applied methods were: general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, comparison, systematization, and generalization) and methods of historical research (chronological, logical-historical, historical-typological, and retrospective). The most important findings have become distinguishing and characterizing four stages of activity of academic councils in Ukrainian universities within the studied period: I stage (1804 - 1835), II stage (1835 - 1863), III stage (1863 - 1884), IV stage (1884 - 1906). Characterization of the stages of academic council functions and authority development from the modern position has demonstrated that in order to develop the quality of university management as well as educational service quality universities need real university autonomy, which should be strong enough to prevent mistakes and shortcomings of the previous periods.

The article describes the problems international students encounter during psychophysiological adaptation. As the modern higher education system is characterized by academic mobility, and international students from countries with quite different geoclimatic and cultural traditions have to undergo an adaptation period, the problem under study is topical. The study was conducted at Kharkiv National Medical University (Ukraine) in 2020/2021. The research involved 1st, 2nd and 3rd-year international students (from 50 countries). The peculiarities of international students’ psychophysiological states were assessed during the stages of initial adaptation, stable adaptation and final adaptation. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the factors of the natural and socio-pedagogical environment that affect the psychological adaptation process of international students. The present study provides new information on the acclimatization patterns of international students who study in Ukraine, as well as its functional significance on selected performance measures. General theoretical methods, research methods and methods of statistical data processing have been employed. The results reveal that the destabilizing factors that negatively affect international students’ adaptation process include frequent hypothermia, dietary changes, inadequate and irregular food intake, insufficient physical activity and excessive mental stress. Practical recommendations to decrease these negative factors are proposed.