Роль и профессиональные качества преподавателя РКИ в подготовке студентов итальянских университетов

This paper studies the role of the Russian as a foreign language (RFL) teacher and identifies their professional qualities within the framework of student training in a university environment using the example of Italy. Based on a survey of 90 students from 7 different universities (May–August 2023), it confirms the findings in the literature about the central role of the RFL teacher in the learning process. Besides knowledge, skills and working competences of teachers, this study also attests the importance of their human qualities.