Digitalisation and its role in developing hard skills among university students in Ukraine

Abstract

The rapid growth in the significance of digital technologies in education has created new opportunities for developing hard skills in specialists across various economic sectors, especially in the dynamic modern labour market. However, in the Ukrainian context, the digitalisation of the educational process is accompanied by several challenges, including financial issues, ensuring equal access to education, and adapting traditional teaching methods to the aftermath of a prolonged war, the destruction of critical infrastructure, and political instability. This study aims to determine the impact of digitalising the educational process on the formation and development of hard skills among Ukrainian higher education institution students. The article analyses the latest approaches, methods, and technologies relevant for implementation in modern educational programmes and evaluates their effectiveness in developing students' professional skills in various specialities. Additionally, the article identifies the challenges and opportunities associated with digitalising education during a prolonged war. This study employs general scientific methods of literature review, systematisation, synthesis, and expert evaluation to obtain initial data on the level of acquired hard skills among 25 third-year students at the two Ukrainian universities. This is attributed to the university's modern approach to the educational process, characterised by using the Major&Minor model and microlearning. At the same time, students at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, despite having high academic performance, are less progressive but are also gradually adopting modern digital practices. Ukraine's experience under the prolonged impact of armed conflict highlights the need to address inequalities in access to quality education for students from different regions, ensure optimal financial support, and create an adaptive and inclusive learning environment to enhance students' professional skills and digital competence under crisis conditions. Therefore, the Ukrainian educational community must improve students' acquisition of hard skills in various fields by optimising educational programmes in light of resource constraints and security risks.