 | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | 4 October 1875 |
| Chancellor | Roman Ivanovych Petryshyn[1] |
| Students | 19,227 |
| Location | , |
| Affiliations | EUA |
| Website | www.chnu.edu.ua |
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Regional – Overall | |
| QS Emerging Europe and Central Asia[2] | 301-350 (2022) |
TheChernivtsi National University (named afterYuriy Fedkovych, full official titleYuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University,Ukrainian:Чернівецький національний університет імені Юрія Федьковича) is apublic university in the city ofChernivtsi inWesternUkraine. One of the leading Ukrainian institutions for higher education, it was founded in 1875 as theFranz-Josephs-Universität Czernowitz when Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) was the capital of theDuchy of Bukovina, aCisleithanian crown land ofAustria-Hungary. Today the university is based at theResidence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans building complex, a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site since 2011.
In 1775, the AustrianHabsburg monarchy had obtained the territory ofBukovina, which from 1786 was governed as the Chernivtsi district within theGalicia. Under the rule of EmperorJoseph II, the sparsely populated territory was settled byGerman colonists, mainly fromSwabia. Together with the Austrian administration they formed a separate population group and by the late 19th century, several institutes of higher education arose with theGerman language of instruction, includingGymnasien in Chernivtsi andSuceava. As the graduates still had to leave Bukovina to study in the western parts of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the local administration developed plans to found their own university.
In 1866, theAustrian Empire had lost thewar against Prussia ending theGerman Confederation, which was followed by the establishment of theGerman Empire in 1871. In turn, Habsburg emperorFrancis Joseph I turned his attention to his eastern crown lands. Plans for a Germanophone university were modelled on the establishment in 1872 of the University of StraßburgKaiser-Wilhelms-Universität, named after German EmperorWilliam I, in annexedAlsace-Lorraine.
AfterLviv University had declaredPolish a teaching language in 1871, a Bukovina committee led by the jurist andliberal politician Constantin Tomashchuk (1840–1889), a member of theImperial Council, called for the foundation of a German college in multilingual Czernowitz about 740 kilometres (460 mi) "beyond"Vienna. In 1874 they addressed a petition to the Austrian Minister of EducationKarl von Stremayr, on whose proposal Emperor Francis Joseph finally resolved upon the establishment of a university, which was decided on by the two houses of the Imperial Council on 13 and 20 March 1875. Other cities applying for the creation of a college, such asTrieste,Olomouc,Brno,Ljubljana orSalzburg, were unsuccessful.
One hundred years after the affiliation of Bukovina to the Austrian monarchy, theFranz-Josephs-Universität was inaugurated on 4 October 1875 (the name day of the emperor) on the basis of the Czernowitz Higher Theological School. Constantin Tomashchuk was appointed its firstrector. The ensemble of the Residence, combining elements of national, Byzantine, Gothic and Baroque architecture, is an outstanding example of 19th-century historicist architecture, design and planning, expressing the cultural identity of the Orthodox Church within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[3]
Originally, the main language of instruction wasGerman with separate departments forUkrainian andRomanian and literature.[citation needed] German was the primary language even though the region it was located in, Bukovina, was not German-speaking, and other Austro-Hungarian universities outside of German-speaking areas were shifting away from German-medium teaching.[4] The Emperor saw instruction in German as a means to enable any subject to progree anywhere in the Monarchy. During the period of Austro-Hungarian rule, the university operated three faculties:Greek Orthodox theology (the only one inCentral Europe),jurisprudence andphilosophy. To pursue the study of medicine, the Bukovina graduates still had to go to Lviv or to theJagiellonian University inKraków.
Though the general language of instruction was German, professorships onRomanian andRuthenian language were also established. At the time of Austro-Hungarian rule, the majority of the university's students wereJewish and German Austrians, whileUkrainians andRomanians comprised about 20%–25% of the student body. At times, there were more than 40 German, Ukrainian, Romanian, Polish, Jewish, and Catholic fraternities (Studentenverbindungen) in the city, reflecting its linguistic and religious diversity.
InWorld War I, Czernowitz on theEastern Front was the scene of battle betweenAustro-Hungarian andImperial Russian forces, in which the university was severely affected. Nevertheless, plans for a relocation to Salzburg in the west met with protests from academics such asEugen Ehrlich andJoseph Schumpeter. In June 1918 teaching activities were resumed after theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk withSoviet Russia.
After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918, Bukovina became part of theKingdom of Romania and the university was renamedUniversitateaRegele Carol I din Cernăuţi. From 1919 to 1940 the university was largelyRomanized; the Ukrainian department was abolished, Ukrainian professors were dismissed and instruction was fully switched toRomanian. In 1933, of 3,247 students, there were 2,117 Romanians, 679 Jews, 199 Germans, 155 Ukrainians (decreasing from 239 out of 1671 students in 1920), 57 Poles, 26 Russians and 4 of other nationalities.Ion Nistor, a prominent Romanian historian and one of the most vocal proponents ofGreater Romanian nationalism, was the university's rector for many years.
Upon the 1940Soviet occupation of northern Bukovina, the territory became part of theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the primary language in the university becameUkrainian. At that time the original carved wooden ceiling of the Synod Hall was lost to fire and was replaced only in the 1950s.[5] The roof has been gradually replaced using quality colour-glazed roof tiles manufactured according to the original patterns and imported from Austria. The change of function of the ensemble, initially being the Residence of Metropolitans and becoming a university did not unduly affect its authenticity.
The university, renamedChernivtsi State University, was significantly expanded and reorganized. In 1976–1977, the university had 10,000 students and about 500 teachers, 26 specialists and doctors of sciences, about 290 associate professors and candidates of sciences. Teaching of science was greatly increased and the theological department was dissolved and then reopened in 1996. In 1989 the university was named to honourYuriy Fedkovych, a prominentUkrainian writer, a native ofBukovina. In the Soviet period, the number of Romanian students at the university declined sharply. In 1991–92, the last year of Soviet rule, the number of Romanian students was only 4.44% (434 out of 9,769).[6] Of the academic staff, the breakdown by nationality is: Ukrainians 465 (77.1%), Russians 102 (16.9%), Moldovans 9 (1.4%), Romanians 7 (1.1%), Belarusians 6 (0.9%), etc.
Since 2000, when the university was awarded National status, it operates under its current name,Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University.
By decision of Session of Council of European University Association, held in Brussels on 15 January 2009, Yuriy Fedkovich Chernivtsi National University was granted a full individual membership inEuropean University Association.[7] On June 29, 2011, the 35th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to include the central building of the university - the former residence of the Metropolitan of Bukovina and Dalmatia, on the World Heritage List.[8][9]
In 2016, according to the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Bukovina State Financial and Economic University was affiliated to Chernivtsi National University.[10]
As of April 2019[update], the Rector of Chernivtsi National University is Professor Petryshyn Roman Ivanovich, PhD in Physical and Mathematical Sciences.[11]
Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University consists of 17 buildings having a total of 105 units. The total area is 110,800 square meters, including training buildings of 66 square meters.
The architectural ensemble of the main campus of the university, theResidence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans, is included on the list ofUNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The university operatesChernivtsi Botanical Garden, which features over a thousand different spices and an arboretum located on the territory of the main campus.
The university library was founded in 1852 as Krayova Library — the first public library in Bukovina. By 2004, its total book stock included 2,554,000 copies and among them 1,215,000 copies of scientific literature, 171,000 of textbooks and manuals, and 648,000 of fiction. The fund of foreign books contains 376,000 works inGerman,Romanian,English,Latin,Polish, Ancient Greek,French, Hebraic,Yiddish and other languages.
The scientific library includes 11 departments: collection, scientific processing, native fund preservation, foreign fund preservation, rare and valuable books, book borrowing, reading halls, branch, cultural work, information technologies and information-bibliographic.
The university has partnerships with universities inAustria,Belarus,Bulgaria,Bosnia,United Kingdom,Estonia,Israel,Spain,China,Latvia,Moldova,Germany,South Korea,Norway,Poland,Romania,Serbia,Slovenia,Slovakia,United States,Turkey,France,Croatia,Finland,Czech Republic.[13] It participates in projects and in the framework of cross border cooperation programmes such asTEMPUS,EMERGE – Erasmus Mundus European Mobility with Neighboring Region in the East: Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus,Jean Monnet Programme,ERASMUS Programme.[14] It is also a partner of theEUROSCI Network.[15]
As of April 2019, the Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University is ranked third in the ranking of Ukrainian higher education institutions by the Scopus scientometric database, which provides records of scientists' publications, institutions and statistics of their citation.[16]
Honorary doctors
