STAGES IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT IN UKRAINIAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (1990S – FIRST QUARTER OF THE 21ST CENTURY)

Abstract

The article provides a theoretical and analytical interpretation of changes in the educational environment transformation within Ukrainian higher education institutions (HEIs) during the 1990s and the first quarter of the 21st century. The educational environment is defined as an integral socio-pedagogical system incorporating organizational-managerial, content-processual, information-digital, socio-communicative, and axiological components.
Drawing on scholarly approaches, socio-historical preconditions, regulatory frameworks, and organizational-pedagogical changes, the factors of transformation of the educational environment of higher education institutions in Ukraine were substantiated. Socio-political, economic, organizational-pedagogical, information-digital, and socio-cultural factors were identified as those that determined the nature and dynamics of structural changes in the higher education system.
Based on these identified factors and established socio-historical, regulatory-legal, and organizational-pedagogical criteria, the author develops a periodization of Ukraine’s HEI educational environment transformation. It includes four stages: the formation of the national model of the educational environment (1991–2001), integration into the European educational space and institutional renewal (2002–2013), autonomy, standardization, and digital modernization (2014–2021), wartime adaptation, quality assurance, and individualization of educational trajectories (2022–2025).
The findings demonstrate that this transformation of the educational environment in higher education institutions reflects not only regulatory and organizational shifts but also profound changes in value orientations, forms of academic communication, ways of organizing the educational process, and mechanisms of professional preparation of future teachers.
It is substantiated that the contemporary Ukrainian HEI educational environment functions as an open, adaptive, technologically enriched, and value-oriented system. It is capable of ensuring educational continuity, high-quality professional training, and student’ personal development amid ongoing social transformation.

Received: November 25, 2025
Accepted: December 11, 2025
Published: January 16, 2026