In the education industry, it is critical to understand the expectations of students concerning providing the best educational experience. Thus, in higher education institutions (HEI) the adoption of customer-oriented approaches in the management practice is widespread. The customer-oriented approach regarding students as customers has been discussed in academic literature from several perspectives. However, it has been rarely studied from the point of view of comparing public and private universities. The presented study tried to apply a student-customer orientation questionnaire (SCOQ) to investigate differences between student expectations of their educational experience in public vs. private universities. The sample consisted of 238 undergraduate students in Indonesia’s higher education institutions. The study found interesting differences within the student-customer-oriented variables between university types in terms of graduation, curriculum design, communication with service staff, classroom studies, individual studies and course design.

Integration of educational processes is fundamental to the modern learning paradigm. It is based on the critical approach to vocational training and gives students an opportunity to prepare well for their future professional life. Ability to solve complex problems is key and knowledge integration is central to the successful development of an independent learner. Research shows that the mastery of a specialist is directly dependent on their ability to solve complex problems. This, in turn, is highly reliant on the ability to apply knowledge to solving interdisciplinary problems. The presented article shows that integrated knowledge is both more encompassing and succinct at the same time. It comprises specific educational problems, the solution of which aids the development of professional competence and optimizes the educational process.

The article substantiates the relevance of the problem of implementation of interactive teaching methods in the process of future teacher’s distance (mixed) training in higher education institutions. The theoretical aspects of the outlined problem are covered through the analysis of the content of the main concepts: interactive technologies, dialogue, educational dialogue, distance education, etc. Considerable attention is paid to the presentation of the philosophical and didactic principles of future teacher training to use interactive technologies (in particular, the principles of humanism, anthropological perspective, nature conformity, educational feedback interaction, pedagogical optimism, scientific organisation of the educational dialogue, the communicative orientation of teaching, speech ethics, modelling problem situations in education. Some types of interactive learning are presented and recommended for working with students in teaching socio-humanitarian, natural science, and math disciplines. The necessity to develop future teachers’ communicative activity, critical thinking, and team interaction to conduct constructive dialogues, considering the realities of online and offline learning, is emphasised.

The Freedom to Teach vs. Autonomy of Academic Education According to Act 2.0

The issue of work is the autonomy of academic education. Analyzing the factual and legal conditions for adopting the so-called Constitution for Science and applying Act 2.0. in the field of conducting studies leads to considering the presented issue. In this way, the work aims to determine whether legal rules of creating studies curricula, in force since the 2019/2020 academic year, provide universities with the necessary institutional autonomy and guarantee freedom of teaching. The work concludes that the adopted regulation adequately realizes the autonomy of academic education. The analyses show that the adopted solutions enough balance the requirement to protect the public interest and the need to respond to the needs of the socio-economic partners of higher education institutions. In this way, the quality of education is balanced with the need to introduce new curricular content into the programs of study, responding to the challenges of today’s university graduates.

The article considers the problems of creativity development of higher education students at a bachelor’s level in „Preschool Education” in professional training. Creativity is defined as an integrated quality of the future educator of preschool children in kindergarten, and the importance of creative thinking development during the assimilation of educational components of the professional direction is determined. Modern approaches to the problem of creativity and the selection of different types, factors and criteria suggest that this category has a multidimensional nature, and creativity itself is considered today a necessity in the life of modern man. The essence of the concept of „pedagogical conditions” is revealed. The pedagogical conditions for the effective development of creative thinking of future educators of preschool children that improve the quality of professional training in higher education are considered. Three conditions of creative thinking development of higher education students of the preschool profile are substantiated. They are the use of innovative pedagogical technologies, forms, methods and techniques for activating the creative potential of higher education students of „Preschool Education” speciality in the educational process of higher education institutions; ensuring the problematic nature of the educational process of future educators of preschool children; active practice-oriented activities of future educators of preschool children. Innovative pedagogical technologies and leading methods of work with future educators of preschool children are projects, quests, training sessions, and classes based on certain methods of the theory of inventive problems (MTIP). They allow teachers to guide students of higher education to self-improvement and self-realisation, creative activity, and future professionals to master their knowledge, skills, and abilities to solve specific educational problems in preschool, apply creative approaches, and develop communication and organisational skills. Modern approaches to the problem of creativity, the selection of different types, factors and criteria suggest that this category has a multidimensional nature, and creativity itself is considered today a necessity in the life of modern man.

The article deals with the theoretical foundations of professional training of future primary school teachers in higher education institutions. The necessity of digitalisation of the education system through the introduction of innovative digital technologies and the organisation of the educational process in higher education institutions is established. Today, the classical type of education is experiencing an almost instantaneous crisis around the world. Distance learning is gaining popularity due to its ability to attract more people, improve on-site learning and offer fast and affordable education at any time.