Digitalisation led to the formation of such phenomenon as distance education, which is widely implemented in schools and universities. Like many other countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, countries of Central Asia imposed a ban on social contact, which became a reason for the wide introduction of distance learning в universities. In this paper, we used statistical and analytical data to show that this transition was rather complex for these countries. We determined the necessity for further reforms in the sphere of improvement of the quality of distance learning in universities as the basis of the reduction of the studied gap, increase in economic growth and improvement of employment. The performed research demonstrated that the gap between the labour market and the university education market and the development of distance learning in universities of Central Asia countries are connected to a range of systemic problems, the resolution of which will allow ensuring the growth of employment and economies of these countries. The novel aspect of this paper is the identification of the main features (advantages and problems) of the transition of the system of university education in countries of Central Asia to distance learning.