The interaction of cultures is an essential part of the activity of any society. Globalization, as well as the requirements of the academic and professional communities for the competence of a modern specialist for successful functioning in a multicultural environment, confirms the necessity of the research in the field of the formation of multilingual competence among students of a multidisciplinary university. The purpose of this article is to present some results of the study of the concept of multilingual competence as a modern characteristic of the personality of a specialist in a multidisciplinary university in a multicultural urban environment. The research methods are analysis of scientific literature in the field of general methods of teaching foreign languages, methods of multilingual education, teaching a second foreign language; analysis and synthesis of theoretical research and interpretation of the results of the experiment. As a result, various approaches of methodologists to the definition and content of multilingual competence are considered. An analytical description of the authors’ approach to the structural configuration of multilingual competence is given. In conclusion, a nоvel approach to the interpretation of multilingual competence, cultivated in the pedagogical educational space of a multidisciplinary university, is presented.

Keywords: multilingual education, multilingual competence, knowledge, skills, multidisciplinary university, multicultural urban environment.