The article examines the prospects that open up for the implementation of the educational process in higher educational institutions, as well as the problems faced by the modern higher education system in the context of the transition to distance learning caused by the current epidemiological situation in the post-digital world. On the basis of the data from a student survey made during the COVID-19 pandemic, who studied using distance digital technologies, we have analyzed the current state of higher education. Consequently, the authors have concluded that the universities, implementing programs for the digitalization of the educational process and the creation of massive online courses, are actually away from the real social circles of the post-digital society. Given the results, the authors argue that digitalization is not a way to resolve the internal contradictions of higher education. Moreover, digitalization as a goal of higher education somewhat hides the real contradictions of the learning process.