Remote learning during the war: challenges for higher education in Ukraine

Abstract

This study analyses the challenges the higher education of Ukraine, university students and teachers face in wartime, as well as considers accessibility and effectiveness of remote learning. This is done by examining the National University of Food Technologies and its remote learning experience due to the Russia's aggression in February, 2022. While many universities have similar problems nowadays, every institution has its own unique ones (location of education agents; possibility for teachers to create new courses and/or improve the existing ones downloading the materials and tests; access to resources for the students; access to academic support). Despite the fact that the National University of Food Technologies has already had its own distance platform since 2015-2016 and have been constantly improving it the last 2-3 years especially because of Covid pandemic-2020, the wartime caused a lot of problems preventing access for the students to get a quality education. The research considers the benefits offered by remote learning for the students and teachers, and difficulties connected with low accessibility and even impossibility for both educational agents to continue educational process. On the one hand, study progress is not really feasible or sustainable when students live in situations of war or occupation. On the other hand, the article demonstrates that remote learning is capable of delivering the educational goals of the university to the areas affected by the war.