Ongoing Challenges of Higher Art Education

The purpose of the article is to determine the special features of the formation of higher art education in Ukraine at the present stage and identify the main ways of their implementation. Research methodology. The article, along with general scientific methods – analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, generalization, applies cross-cultural and systematic analyses, which makes it possible to characterize the ongoing challenges of higher art education. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the following priorities: peculiarities and current state of higher art education are described, distance education as one of the forms of translation of knowledge and skills and a methodological challenge to teachers of art educational institutions are investigated, ways of introducing the educational and creative degree of Doctor of Arts and accreditation of the academic councils (specialized councils for awarding the degree of Doctor of Arts) are outlined in three areas of creative artistic activity: 1) the music sphere, 2) the visual, decorative and applied, design and restoration, 3) stage and audio-visual arts. The regulations by the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance sets out the requirements for the competence of members of the specialized councils for awarding the degree of Doctor of Arts. Conclusions. Today’s art and education market is characterized by a tendency when the provision of educational art services is forced to take place in conditions of fluctuations in state educational strategies, reinforced by some uncertainty of work in the conditions of global quarantine. But if the conditions of quarantine have external force majeure circumstances and cannot continue indefinitely, the lack of a clear state strategy in the field of higher art education remains an obstacle to the formation of its overall structure. However, the steps that have been taken in the recent years thanks to the collective efforts of the National Agency’s specialists allow us to see the prospects for moving towards the creation of such a structure