Perspective Chapter: The War as a Factor of Upheavals and Transformations in Higher Education – Experience of Ukraine

Abstract

This section aims to analyze the impact of the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine on the higher education system, the losses incurred, and the forced transformation processes that form new vectors for the development and modernization of higher education for post-war recovery. The introduction outlines the author’s understanding of the essence of the war in Ukraine as a global civilizational conflict, its causes, and its consequences. Further, the analysis of challenges to the education system in the context of armed conflicts in the studies of foreign and domestic authors is carried out. The study of the problems of Ukraine’s higher education began with its general characteristics in the pre-war period. The essential attention focuses on a review of the impact of the war on the system of higher education in Ukraine, where two stages are distinguished: the first is the consequences of the armed conflict of 2014-2021 for higher education in Ukraine and the peculiarities of the forced relocation of universities; the second is the risks and losses of higher education institutions in Ukraine in the context of the 2022 war. These are the problems of security and preservation of infrastructure, human resources, and student body of universities. The change in organizational forms and methods of training in combat conditions to ensure the educational process are highlighted as well as the importance of using digital technologies, innovative approaches, and international cooperation for the preservation of higher education. At the end of the section, the immediate and long-term negative consequences of the war for higher education in Ukraine are systematized, and it is concluded that the educational transformations caused by the war contribute to the formation of new vectors of post-war reforms and the development of the Ukrainian higher education system.