The article presents a study carried out in order to identify the role of social distances with host country students in the social and academic adaptation of international students. By applying two methods - the Questionnaire of Adaptation to the Student Environment and Academic Demands (AMSSA) and the Bogardus Social Distance Scale - the hypothesis of the presence of smaller social distances of international students with students from the host country, than with those from other countries, was verified. these contributing to the facilitation of social adaptation and to the academic environment. The distance to the host country representatives was found to be closer than the distance to students from other countries. Contact distances with students from the host country are important for a number of parameters of psychosocial adaptation: they contribute to the satisfaction of sociocommunicative, ecosocial, socioeconomic needs, in general to macrosocial level adaptation; plays a positive role in mesosocial adaptation by facilitating communication with faculty colleagues; positively influences the parameters of mesosocial adaptation - meeting the needs of professional identification and professional training.