Lessons from the trenches: digitalization of higher education in war-torn Ukraine

• In Event: Higher education dynamics in digital(ized) societies: Quality, research and networked collaboration

Proposal

While many countries abandoned digital platforms created to facilitate learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ukraine expanded the application of technology in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion (UNESCO, 2023). Scholars argued that Ukrainian higher education institutions leveraged their experiences with digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the provision of educational and administrative services amid the escalating war (Oleksiyenko, Shchepetylnykova, Furiv, 2023). However, scholarly insights into approaches employed by Ukrainian higher education professionals and researchers to engage with technology during the war and the challenges they face remain limited. This paper draws on qualitative inquiry to elaborate on the role of digital technologies in war-torn Ukrainian higher education. Through document analysis and interviews with Ukrainian scholars and university administrators (conducted in 2023-2024), this study identifies the contribution of digital technologies to keeping students in their virtual classrooms, and scholars engaged in teaching and research. It elaborates on how digital learning intersects with cross-cultural learning during the time of mass displacement of Ukrainian students and academics and what challenges arose from the extensive reliance of Ukrainian higher education on digital technologies. The findings underline that institutions of higher education leveraged wide access to internet connectivity and familiarity with technology to serve their unique institutional needs amid war-generated insecurity and displacement. While Russia’s attacks on civilian infrastructure damaged 109 Ukrainian tertiary education institutions and completely destroyed four (Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, 2024), these universities continued their teaching and research activities fully online. Similarly, universities on the frontline and those displaced due to the Russian occupation maintained virtual contact with their students and scholars scattered across various communities. Nevertheless, universities in less impacted regions of Ukraine transitioned to on-site and hybrid operations as the war dragged on. For students unable to leave the territories of Ukraine that Russia has occupied, online courses offered by Ukrainian universities provide an opportunity to continue their education. In addition, universities, researchers, and learners gained access to previously unavailable digital resources generously offered by the global academic community. Virtual classrooms opened up new opportunities for internationalization and cross-cultural learning. However, while digital technologies became a critical instrument in ensuring the resilience of Ukraine’s higher education institutions, enabling teaching, learning, research and academic services provision during the early months of the war, persistent Russia's attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure disrupt connectivity. Students and scholars in Ukraine experience increasingly more frequent power outages leading to growing concerns about the emerging digital divide.

References
Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. (2024). https://saveschools.in.ua/en/
Oleksiyenko, A., Shchepetylnykova, I., & Furiv, U. (2023). Internationalization of higher education in tumultuous times: Transformative powers and problems in embattled Ukraine. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(5), 1103-1118.
UNESCO. 2023. Global Education Monitoring Report 2023: Technology in education – A tool on whose terms? Paris, UNESCO.

Author

• Liz Shchepetylnykova, Scholars at Risk Network