The ongoing military aggression of Russia against Ukraine has significantly affected Ukraine's higher education system. Students and faculty need to relocate and conduct teaching and learning online and remotely instead of meeting physically on campus. There is substantial infrastructure damage to universities, electricity, and facilities in general in the country. Furthermore, the war impacts on students' and teachers’ well-being and health. The Swedish Institute funded a capacity-building program for university teachers in Ukraine to support: "U-Train - Training to Teach Online in Wartime and After", 2023-2024. Stockholm University (Sweden), Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukrainian Distance Learning (UDL) System (Ukraine), and Khazar University (Azerbaijan) were the partners in this program which addressed the digital transformation from campus to online teaching to maintain education continuity in higher education.

The first phase of the project consisted of a Needs analysis study, the complete results are provided in appendix 1. The survey included 10 universities with 220 responses from teachers. They wanted more education and training in the following four areas: 1) Online course design, 2) Improvements in students’ wellbeing and engagement, 3) Communication online and 4) Assessment online. Co-creation and community of practice. Based on the needs survey and additional information based on interviews, four online seminars were created and provided open for all teachers: 1) Module 1: AI in higher education , 2) Module 2: Course design, Communication, and Evaluation, 3) Module 3: Digital examinations and peer assessment, 4) Module 4: Students and teachers’ wellbeing in wartime, motivation, and incentives.

After the online seminars the university teachers prepared a project proposal for an Online Course Improvement Activity (OCIA). The proposals were selected and mentors from Sweden were allocated to each project. The teachers implemented their projects with supervision in the autumn 2023 and early spring 2024. After completion they wrote a final report and presented their project online and in Sweden.

The OCIA (Change) reports are found in appendix 5.

The program was evaluated in a master thesis and a research publication, see appendix 2. A mixed method approach was used including interviews, surveys, participant observations of online seminars, and document analysis of final reports written by teachers about their Online Course Improvement Activity (OCIA). The survey results demonstrated the program's overall positive adoption with participants acknowledging advancements in teaching practices and professional growth. Notably, the online seminars that covered topics from AI integration in higher education to digital examinations received excellent feedback confirming their usefulness and efficacy in enhancing teaching skills. Challenges such as unreliable Internet connectivity and frequent interruptions because of air raid alerts and adjusting to new teaching methods were identified. The OCIA initiatives included a variety of activities aimed at meeting specific educational needs identified by the teachers themselves in their own courses such as how to assess Arabic writing skills at a distance, updating legal education, improving botany courses, ICT in mathematics courses, and so on.

In conclusion, the ICT capacity-building program has been effective in improving the overall skills of teachers during the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian teachers appreciated the capacity program´s contribution to addressing disruptions and problems when conducting courses during challenging times. Despite facing obstacles like unreliable internet access and power cuts the educators valued the program for fostering resilience, professional development, and collaboration, highlighting its significance in enhancing teaching approaches in wartime conditions. The most significant outcomes of the capacity-building program according to the Ukrainian teachers were advancements in technological proficiency (100%), better student engagement (67%), and collaborative opportunities (67%). Furthermore, they learned new teaching methodologies and were inspired to explore topics such as AI integration in education, digital assessment methods, and student well-being concerns indicating a continued focus on technology integration and addressing significant educational obstacles. The participants expressed a strong interest in being part of an extended and scaled-up version of this program.