Sumy State University: Adaptation of management to wartime conditions

Abstract

Ensuring a high quality of educational and scientific activity is one of the main tasks for university management, which becomes especially significant in wartime conditions. The results of scientific research and mechanisms worked out in practice to ensure the effectiveness of the university functioning and anti-crisis management techniques in wartime may become impractical, as they are usually considered relatively stable and even predictable in the short term by the external environment and regular internal communications. Therefore, the study aims to systematize managerial decisions and measures and conduct a SWOT analysis of the university’s functioning in war conditions when external risks are at their maximum level.Based on the accumulated experience of Sumy State University management, which continued its activities even when russian invaders surrounded the city, it demonstrated effective work in 2022 and 2023. It became possible thanks to the pre-war management system, coordination of the work of all structural divisions, and constant information of all participants in the educational process through an internal information system and electronic document management. The critical threats to the university’s functioning in the future have been determined based on the conducted SWOT analysis. The developed methods and mechanisms of university management could not be fully applied in war conditions; the management’s ability to make non-standard decisions is essential; the state of the university depends on the distance to the war zone, as well as the institutional conditions developed in the pre-war period; the university’s presence in international rankings expanded cooperation with international partners and provided many significant advantages in supporting the university’s educational and scientific activities; the prerequisites for the university’s financial stability in wartime are careful analysis and strict control of the economic situation.