Learning achievements of the students with different cultural background in a specialized university directly depends on the effectiveness of the educational environments being developed at the university: how these environments meet the specific learning needs of the students and motivate them for successful learning activities, i.e. creating their own personal learning environment (Jucevičienė et al., 2010). Such a learning environment, in which students' attitudes to learning are also affected by their own cultural differences, has to be characterized by particular flexibility and non-traditional pedagogical decisions (Gudaitytė et al., 2014). Therefore, it is up to us, developers of such an educational environment, to find out the expectations of students, expressed as a vision of "dream studies", on which we could make the right educational decisions.

 As it can be stated according to the studies conducted in Lithuania by Jucevičienė et al. (2010); Gudaityte, Butrimė, et al. (2013, 2017); Gudaityte, Alešiūnaitė, et al. (2014); lecturers working in a specialized university, and in particular with the students from different cultural backgrounds, face a variety of difficulties related to the expression of teachers' educational excellence. Therefore, this research continues the research aimed at identifying and solving the problems of teachers'  educational activities, in this case with regard to the identification of the learning needs of students with different cultural bacground.

 The article attempts to answer the question what peculiarities of the student with different cultural bacground learning environment at a specialized university could be observed and distinguished with the help of their imaginary dream studies. What elements of the learning environment dominate when they are evaluated according to the criteria of the educational environment: goals, methods, measures, activities of the educators and the educated. What conditions for the empowerment of the student to study at a university, i.e. competence, psychological, or  organizational, are the most important for students. The attempts have been made to answer the question with the help of the participants of the study, i.e. the students from the Lithuanian University who have come to study from other countries (hereinafter referred to as international students) and Lithuanian students from the same university.

 The participants in the study are asked to create and present a map of thoughts of dream studies. In this way, the aimis to identify the peculiarities of the learning environment of the students with different cultural bacground in a specialized university based on the maps of thoughts of their dream studies.

The article is based on theoretical positions which highlight constructivist preferences, favourable educational environments for the student empowerment, the preconditions for the formation of deep learning, differences in the learning environment and educational environment, and the issues of their relationship, the specifics of contemporary learning and higher education (Barnett, 1990, 1999; Jucevičienė, Gudaitytė, et al. 2010; Jucevičienė, Lipinskienė, 2001; Jucevičienė, Stanikūnienė, 2002; Petty, 2006; 2008; Ramsden, 2000). The first year international students and Lithuanian students were given individual task to create a map of thoughts "Dream Studies". The maps were created by 200 first year students at an X specialised Lithuanian university: 100 international students and 100 Lithuanian students. The data of the maps of thoughts (N = 200) were processed using qualitative content analysis.

The results of the research show that the categories and subcategories identified in the maps of thoughts of "Dream Studies" allow identifying the following peculiarities of the learning environment: as regards the development of the educational environment in the group of participants in the international student group it is dominated by the category of goals and motivation category, while the students' educational empowerment studies are dominated by the psychological conditions. In the group of Lithuanian students, the part of the methods and the category of interactivity dominates in the development of the educational environment, and as regards the students' educational empowerment, the conditions of competence are dominant. The results of the study made it possible to construct two joint maps of the "Dream Studies" and compare the main learning expectations of the international students and the Lithuanian students which are relevant for the developers of the educational environments to be taken into account.

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