The article aims to conduct a comparative analysis of educational programs for training specialists in the field of physical culture at universities in China and Ukraine in the context of higher education digitalization. The study is based on the assumption that digital transformation affects not only technological support, but also curriculum design, competency frameworks, learning organization, and assessment approaches. Special attention is paid to the ways in which digital components are embedded in program architecture and to the differences between explicit curricular digitalization and distributed organizational digitalization. The study was designed as a qualitative comparative analysis based on document analysis and the methodological logic of comparative education. The documentary corpus included official regulatory and program documents published on governmental and university websites. The comparative sample comprised four bachelor-level educational programs: Beijing Sport University, Northeast Normal University, National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic,” and Ivan Bobersky Lviv State University of Physical Culture. The analysis relied on document analysis, qualitative content analysis, comparison, synthesis, and generalization. The main analytical categories included program profile, curriculum structure, competencies, learning outcomes, practical training, digital components, forms of learning organization, and assessment mechanisms. The study identified two distinct models of program digitalization. The Chinese programs demonstrated explicit curricular digitalization, including dedicated courses in educational technology, AI-related content, smart education platform integration, and a stronger teacher-education orientation. The Ukrainian programs revealed distributed organizational digitalization, where ICT, virtual learning environments, online platforms, and digital assessment tools were embedded across the educational process rather than formalized as separate curriculum blocks. At the same time, all analyzed programs combined theoretical, methodological, and practical preparation and included competence-based approaches and individualization mechanisms. The findings confirm that digitalization functions as a structural factor in the modernization of physical culture training in both countries, but it is implemented through different program logics. Chinese universities demonstrate stronger formalization of digital competence within teacher education, whereas Ukrainian universities integrate digitalization more flexibly into broader professional training. The most promising direction for further modernization lies in the selective synthesis of these approaches, combining explicit curricular digitalization with flexible organizational implementation.
Rui Chen (Mon,) studied this question.