The article analyses the structure and expression of the research competence required for postgraduates for international cooperation as well as the features of this competence in the conditions of higher education, research and internationalisation of market. The article raises the following challenging question: what is the newly defined content of the research competence to be developed in higher education and the expression of its constituent elements with respect to the trends of the globalising labour market and higher education undergoing internationalisation? This aspect forms the essence of the scientific problem being solved in the article. The objective of the study is to identify and assess the structure and expression of the research competence required for postgraduates for international cooperation as well as the features of this competence in the conditions of higher education, research and internationalisation of market. The methods used during the study include literature analysis; data collection was carried out using a semi-standardised written survey; the data were processed using multivariate statistical techniques: factor analysis, cluster analysis, and correlation analysis. It was found during the study that postgraduates hardly differentiate components of the research competence required for international cooperation and consider underdeveloped the required for academic competencies international activities, while evaluating especially low active foreign language level. The theoretical and empirical analysis of the research competence required for international cooperation revealed different traditions of the interpretation of the research competence structure: the narrow and the broad concepts of competence
