Two years of twinning: challenges in Ukrainian higher education

Ukraine, a country rich in cultural heritage and academic history, has found itself navigating turbulent waters. In conditions where 20% of the country's territory is occupied and roughly 15% of the infrastructure of Ukrainian higher education institutions (HEIs) are significantly damaged or destroyed, the survival of higher education in Ukraine is an urgent issue.

Russia’s war in Ukraine led to destabilisation in many aspects of social life. One of the most vulnerable sectors was education, which did not have time to stabilise after the global pandemic. Educational institutions, forced to adapt to restrictions and threats, are facing now the task of guaranteeing safety, reliability and accessibility of education in the most difficult circumstances.

Starting in 2020, Ukrainian education functioned in the very challenging conditions of the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, the issues of creating a safe learning environment and introducing distance learning came to the fore. Later, the situation became even more complicated. In the first days of the Russian invasion, the education in universities was suspended. Many staff and students were forced to leave for safer regions of Ukraine and beyond, and some continue to stay in the temporarily occupied territories. The buildings of many educational institutions were destroyed due to shelling. According to the interactive map of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, since February 24 2022, 63 institutions of higher education have been badly damaged or completely destroyed.

Ukraine faced the further issue of evacuating universities to controlled territory. Several HEIs were relocated from the occupied territories - but some were not, so are now outside the legal field of Ukraine.

All of these factors forced Ukrainian education providers to adapt to new conditions. For example, higher education institutions had to arrange shelters, but not all of them can accommodate the total number of students. However, thanks to the experience of providing hybrid educational services during the Covid restrictions, the higher education system of Ukraine managed to adapt quickly enough to the challenges of martial law and resume training and learning in a hybrid mode, and in safer regions.

Despite this, we must admit that distance learning is far from suitable for all areas of educational activity and that some specialists cannot be trained in this way. In addition, despite teachers doing everything possible to deliver classes by providing education services from wherever possible - the streets, 'points of invincibility', and shelters - the assimilation of knowledge by students, the mastery of skills and the formation of competencies are complicated due to a difficult emotional state in their students. 

After successfully concluding the 2021/22 academic year, conducting two summer admissions campaigns and continuing to fulfil their objectives during the 2022/23 and 2023/24 years, Ukrainian universities are still facing crucial challenges. These challenges, stemming from quarantine restrictions and exacerbated by the war, primarily revolve around the need for well-organised distance learning in both synchronous and asynchronous modes. This involves adapting academic courses, programmes and task types, evaluation systems, schedules, teaching methods etc.

Ukraine at war-time has seen ominous trends such as infrastructure destruction, displacement of students and faculty, student and staff loss, security concerns, cyber threats for universities’ information systems, financial strains, educational process organisation issues and students’ and academic staff mental health and well-being. Despite this, Ukrainian higher education institutions persist in functioning and providing educational services.

The Ukrainian system of higher education, although it has been suffering significant losses due to Russia’s full-scale military invasion, nevertheless survived. The authorities partially managed to develop effective solutions to stabilise the higher education system in these difficult conditions of the ongoing armed conflict. The cohesion of the Ukrainian educational community, the motivation to continue teaching and learning, and the effective internal policies of Ukrainian institutions of higher education were of great importance in this process. The support of the global academic community is indispensable in aiding Ukrainian educators.

The resilience and determination of both students and faculty, facilitated by international assistance, are pivotal in surmounting the adversities of war and reconstructing a stable and dynamic higher education environment in Ukraine. Ukrainian higher education needs not only to overcome destruction, but also to rethink and transform the entire system. The authorities and the educational community should focus on overcoming the destruction, developing a new vision of the system, creating conditions for the transformation of the educational network, improving quality and supporting an innovative academic environment. It is the time now that Ukraine must develop a content and conceptual vision for the restoration and further transformation of the higher education system. Some ideas of this vision can be found by clicking below:

It is high time to focus on assessing educational losses and supporting the development of the Ukrainian higher education system. Economic growth in Ukraine is impossible without investments in human capital through the reconstruction of the system of providing high-quality education.