Abstract:

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022, affected all spheres of human activity in the country, including higher education and research (HER). The higher-educational institutions and schools resumed their activity three weeks after the beginning of the war and worked ceaselessly despite constant bombing of cities and towns, displacement of adults and children.

The present paper aims to share the experience of students and teaching staff of Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University involved in the educational process during the full-scale war against Ukraine. The objectives of our study are to identify, describe and analyze the challenges faced by HER and the possible ways to overcome them, discuss practices, methodological tools and resources used by teachers in their work.

The methodology of our research is based on observation and survey, questionnaire of teaching staff and students, comparative analysis of teachers’ and students’ answers, analysis and generalization of educational methods, and practices and techniques.

The present research singles out the main difficulties faced by students and teachers during the educational process, identifies the complicating factors in HER (power outages, air raid alarms, psycho-emotional state, etc.), questions various educational forms in wartime and appropriate teaching methods and practices.
The results could contribute to reducing the negative effects of the war on the learning process in Ukrainian HER institutions.

Keywords:

Education in wartime, higher education, research, challenges, teaching practices, Ukraine.