The context of global integration determines the need for intercultural cooperation which requires the ability to function in a multicultural environment. In order to provide students with education, which meets the demands of modern working life, i.e. transferable skills, mobility, continuing education, higher education has to relevantly consider the development of students' communicative competence both in their mother tongue and foreign languages. Specific problems related to the development of communicative competence are characteristic of the so called countries in transition. Because of a limited exposure to the target language in everyday life, learning English as lingua franca, as well as other foreign languages, still relies on educational settings. A number of problems resulting from a big number of students in language classrooms, limited hours of teaching, determine the importance of developing mechanisms that are supportive of the educational process. They should correspond to the students' needs and create optimal conditions conducive to students' efficient performance in multicultural academic and professional contexts. Therefore, the institutions of higher education are facing a task of providing students with educational environments customised for developing their communicative competence with the focus on the requirement of effective performance in the academic environment and future work places. Both foreign and Lithuanian researchers have made a considerable contribution into the analysis of different theoretical aspects of developing learning environments (Ramsden, 1992; Bowden&Marton, 1998; Biggs, 1999; Juceviciene, 1998; Juceviciene&Lipinskiene, 2002; Juceviciene&Tautkeviciene, 2002, 2003, and others) and the impact of learning environments in learning English as a foreign language (Allwright, 1991; Edmondson, 1991; Kramsch, 1991, and others). However, the issues of designing educational environments with reference to the development of students' communicative competence at the institutions of higher education in a country in transition have not been analyzed systematically. What elements should be part of educational environments customised to support the development of students' communicative competence? How these elements should be interrelated to ensure effective development of students' communicative competence in a country in transition? These questions describe the research problem of this paper. The paper is an attempt to provide rationale for a model of designing educational environments for the development of students' communicative competence in a country in transition. The paper employs the method of research literature analysis. The first part of the paper presents the concept of communicative competence and examines the conceptual relationship between educational environments and learning environments. The second part elaborates on the elements of educational environments customised to support the development of students' communicative competence. The third part of the paper relates the above elements to the dimensions of educational context, process, and result; it provides a model of designing educational environments customised to support the development of students' communicative competence in higher education.