FEATURES OF PREPARATION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION PROVIDERS IN UKRAINE

The current state and trends of higher education institutions in Ukraine indicate that domestic higher education institutions function in the market of educational services as complex open socio-economic systems, integrated into the external environment, adapting to constant changes. The main activity of higher education institutions is the educational activity, which provides for the preparation of applicants for specific fields of knowledge and areas of training. The article is devoted to the study of the features of training of higher education applicants in Ukraine, and the identification of the most popular fields of knowledge and areas of training among Ukrainian students. The article analyzes the dynamics of the number of higher education institutions observed in recent years in order to identify the main tendencies of their development and opportunities to achieve sustainable development in the face of rapid changes in the environment. The reasons that influence the state and tendencies of development of domestic higher education institutions are identified. The analysis of the distribution of higher education applicants by the respective national educational levels of educational and qualification levels for the period from the 2010/2011 academic year to the 2018/2019 academic year. Also, the article analyzes and compares the number of higher education applicants by industry and training areas according to the lists 2006, 2007, 2010, and compared with the list of knowledge industries according to the 2015 list. The most popular areas of knowledge and areas of training have been identified, namely the area of knowledge «Social Sciences, Business and Law» and the direction of training «Medicine» (according to the lists 2006, 2007, 2010) and Knowledge Management and Administration (according to the 2015 list). The tendencies, condition and peculiarities of the preparation of higher education applicants in Ukraine are investigated and their influence on the activity of domestic higher education institutions and on the possibility of higher education institutions to achieve sustainable development in the fierce competition in the educational services market are determined.