The urgency of the problem raised in the article is explained by the increasing demand for qualified specialists who have a good command of a foreign language. The communicative competence of an academic science teacher under the conditions of international cooperation development is of great importance. The article discusses the problem of developing the foreign language communicative competence of academic science researchers and lecturers within the framework of international education and integration into the united European educational area. The research methods are studying and summarizing innovative pedagogical experience, reviewing the results of educational activities of academic science teachers in the sphere of improving the foreign language communicative competence which allow to reveal the status of this scientific problem in the pedagogical theory and practice. The article describes a project aimed at development of the foreign language communicative competence--a system of personal characteristics and skills--which creates perfect conditions to encourage educational and scientific activities of academic science teachers. The materials of this article may be of use to higher school lecturers and researchers who are interested in mastering their foreign language skills to develop their foreign language communicative competence.