Iryna Druzhkova & Iryna Annienkova (Odessa National Medical University)
The collapse of the Soviet system initiated profound transformations in education across Central and Eastern Europe, affecting educational governance, curricula, professional training, and institutional values. In Ukraine, this long-term transformation has been further accelerated by Russia’s full-scale invasion, which has placed new demands on healthcare education and professional training.
The Ukrainian case provides a valuable perspective for examining how long-term post-totalitarian educational reforms intersect with the pressures of wartime, revealing both continuity and change in the transformation of professional education. Against this background, the paper analyses the transformation of Ukrainian healthcare education from Soviet educational legacies towards a democratic, value-based model of professional training.
The study is based on qualitative analysis of educational policy documents, legislation regulating higher medical education in Ukraine, professional standards, and scholarly literature on post-totalitarian educational transformation. The analysis focuses on the evolution of educational values and professional competencies, paying particular attention to academic integrity, student-centred learning, ethical responsibility, critical thinking, interprofessional collaboration, and patient-centred care.
The paper argues that the current transformation of Ukrainian healthcare education represents more than institutional reform. It reflects a broader shift from hierarchical, knowledge-transmission models inherited from the Soviet educational system towards a democratic, value-based model of professional education grounded in autonomy, responsibility, partnership, and professional ethics. Rather than initiating these changes, wartime has intensified and accelerated ongoing reforms by reinforcing civic responsibility, resilience, and service-oriented professional identity.
The Ukrainian experience demonstrates that healthcare education offers an important perspective for understanding post-totalitarian educational transformation. It illustrates how democratic values become embedded in professional education under conditions of profound societal change, thereby contributing to broader comparative discussions on educational transformation and democratic value formation in Central and Eastern Europe.
Keywords: post-totalitarian education; Soviet educational legacies; healthcare education; democratic values; educational transformation; Ukraine.