The purpose of this work is related to sociological study of adaptive and motivational aspects of educational activities of Chinese students in Russia to determine the trends and prospects of Chino-Russian cooperation in the field of higher education. This problem is relevant, since it is a part of the range of issues related to improving competitiveness of national higher education system of the Russian Federation and its attractiveness for foreign (in particular, Chinese) students, the number of which, in many respects, determines the rating and status of the university in the international educational space. The methodological framework of research is formed by a complex of conceptual ideas and theoretical approaches, among which the most actively used ones were the theory of global transformations multiplicity, the concepts of globalization and internationalization, which allowed us to consider Chino-Russian cooperation in the coordinates of a particular type of global transformation, considering the dual nature of globalization in the sphere of education. The study identified some positive achievements in the field of Chino-Russian educational cooperation, as well as the factors that negatively affect the assessment of Russian higher education by Chinese students. There were identified the reasons for adaptation difficulties of this category of students in conditions of Russian realities. It is concluded that the development prospects for educational Chino-Russian cooperation (from the point of view of increasing the attractiveness of Russian higher education in the eyes of Chinese citizens) depend on certain changes, both of conceptual and organizational character.