Donetsk National University

Donetsk National University

Донецький національний університет Донецкий национальный университет
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Type	National university
Established	1937
Rector	Roman Grynyuk (Professor; DonNU Rector since November 2012)
Location	Vinnytsia , Ukraine
Website	donnu.edu.ua

Donetsk National University (DonNU) (Russian: Донецкий национальный университет Ukrainian: Донецький національний університет, Donets’kyi Natsional’nyi Universytet) one of the leading higher educational institutions of Ukraine. The University's history starts in 1937 from the moment of creation of a pedagogical institute in Donetsk (then Stalino). In 1965, the Institute was transformed into Donetsk State University. It was accorded the National status in 2000.

In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, Donetsk National University was evacuated to Vinnytsia.

History

On July 15, 1937, a pedagogical institute was established in the city of Stalino (Donetsk) by decree from Ukrainian SSR as the Stalin State Pedagogical Institute. Its first director was Olekasandr Yevdokymenko, who was arrested in 1938 and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment during the Joseph Stalin's Great Purge. Originally the institute consisted of two departments, of History and of Philology, and five chairs.

From 1940 to 1961 the institute was led by Serhiy Ksenofotnov and from 1961 by Mykola Khoroshailov. Since 1941 the school also included the Physic-Mathematical Faculty. Due to the invasion of the Nazi Germany of the Soviet Union, in 1941 the institute was evacuated first to Kungur and soon thereafter Molotov where it was liquidated. With the liberation of Donetsk during the World War II, in 1943 the institute was reestablished on the decision of Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1951 in school was established the Student Scientific Association that had two divisions historical-philological and physical-mathematical.

In 1961 the institute's name changed to Donetsk State Pedagogical Institute. In 1964 Institute was subordinated to Kharkiv State University and became a Donetsk branch of Kharkiv State University named after Maksim Gorky. On May 28, 1965 the Soviet of Ministers of the USSR enacted a Decree on organising Donetsk State University (DonSU) based on Donetsk branch of Kharkiv State University. Professor Leonid Lytvynenko became the first rector of the university (1965–1968). In 1965 post-graduate studies were launched at the University with only 16 students at first. This was the year when faculties of biology and physics as well as students' campus were built.

Appointed the second rector of the University, Professor Yuriy Shevlyakov managed the institution from 1968 to 1970, during which the main 12-storey building was constructed. Professor Hryhoriy Tymoshenko was the third University rector (1970–1975). In 1972, the University's history museum was opened in the main building. Professor Hryhoriy Ponomarenko became the rector in 1975, followed by Professor Volodymyr Shevchenko in 1986. On September 11, 2000 the university was accorded national status by decree of the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma. As a result of the war in Donbass, during which pro-Russian gunmen began using the campus as one of their bases, the university relocated to Vinnytsia.

Infrastructure

Donetsk National University unites educational and research centers forming a complex that includes: 9 Faculties; 2 regional Training and Retraining Centers; Department of International Education, the UNESCO Department for Ecology in the Technogenous Region; Business Centre; Youth Centre for Legal Studies; the Laboratory for International Scientific and Technical Cooperation; Consulting Centres of the British, German and French Councils; Postgraduate Courses and Doctoral Studies etc.

Notable alumni

• Vasyl Stus, Ukrainian poet, Soviet dissident
• Hryhoriy Nemyria, Ukrainian politician, vice prime minister in the Second Tymoshenko Government
• Ivan Dziuba, Ukrainian academician, minister of culture, literary critic, author of "Internationalism or Russification?", Holodomor survivor, co-founder of the People's Movement of Ukraine
• Rinat Akhmetov, Ukrainian richest person

Notes and references

This article incorporates text from "History of the University" at the Official Web Site of the University, whose republication is expressely allowed if referenced to www.donnu.edu.ua.