Assessing the Readiness of Higher Education Institutions in Ukraine for the Challenges of the Digital Economy (Example of Economic Specialties)

The article is aimed at substantiating the theoretical and practical principles of modernization of higher education in Ukraine in the context of the development of digital economy on the example of economic specialties. For its implementation, the main tasks are set as follows: determine the demand for «digital» personnel of the economic specialty in Ukraine and the main wishes of employers; explore the possibility of studying under the educational program «Digital Economics» in higher education institutions of Ukraine; identify the main trends in the adaptation of the higher education system in Ukraine to the requirements of digitalization. The article assesses the readiness of higher education institutions in Ukraine for the challenges of the digital economy (on the example of economic specialties). The main requirements of employers for the professional qualities of employees in the labor market in the digital economy are determined, including cross-sector specialization and multilingualism. The main directions of popular professions of the future are characterized: big data and advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, robotics. The monitoring of educational proposals of higher education institutions, in particular economic specialties, for compliance with the development of digitalization in Ukraine was carried out. The novel educational programs specializing in «Digital Economics» are identified. It is defined that upon admission in 2021, applicants had the opportunity to submit documents to 14 higher education institutions, despite the fact that in 2018 there were only 2 such institutions. It is researched that the number of applications of entrants to such educational programs is growing every year, as well as the number of students enrolled in the chosen educational program. As a result, it is concluded that in order to identify the compliance of the higher education system in Ukraine with the challenges of the digital economy, additional developments are needed, in particular, regarding a detailed .