Due to intercontinental connections provided by air and shipping, tourism, freight transfer, flexibility and expanding labor mobility, expanding the potential of human capital, the borders between states and their societies have been erased, and the international cultural society has become more diverse. The relevance of this study is conditioned by the activities of the centres established in the European Union for transcultural education, transdisciplinary research in the field of sociology, etc. One of the key features of their activities is the understanding of the concept of ethnicity as defining for these centers. The purpose of the study was to investigate the conceptual activities of European centres of transcultural education, to clarify the features of ethnolinguistic science as the main background for the establishment and development of the study of the phenomenon of ethnicity in general. The leading approach to research has become the gradual application of a complex of interrelated methods, such as collection and processing of factual research material, description and analysis of dictionary entries, analysis of the concepts of the activities of European centers, etc. The object of the study is the structural components of the concept of ethnicity. The study identified the principles of functioning of European centres for transcultural education in the context of introducing the experience of educational centres for integration, adaptation, and development of the national identity of immigrants.