Educational Challenges for Universities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The purpose of the article was to present the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the didactic process and to start a discussion on what can universities do at this specific time to meet the requirements of the Polish Qualifications Framework and also how should the didactic staff communicate with the use of virtual space to achieve the expected quality of education. The paper is a concept study based on the results of a literature search query, experiences derived from cooperation with institutions dealing in the management of regional development and labour markets, such as the Regional Labour Office, and the experience gained from holding specific positions at the faculty. As former vice-deans for didactics, both authors have in-depth knowledge about the conditions for the education process implementation and the related challenges. Experience gained from holding a specific position made it possible to propose a comprehensive look at the challenges for universities related to education at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The original features of the paper include: discussion on the importance of universities in the market economy and the education process, presentation of the current situation of universities at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and the opportunity to get acquainted with the activities that were undertaken by universities in response to the new challenge, i.e. complete transition to distance learning. [For the complete volume, "NORDSCI International Conference Proceedings (Online, October 11-13, 2021). Book 1. Volume 4," see ED625509.]