History / hystory of Eastern Europe

Sheyko O.V.

National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine

The city of Nizhyn as a scientific and educational center

In 1805, the Gymnasium of Higher Education was founded in Nizhyn, Ukraine. Graduates from the Nizhyn Lyceum were distinguished by Ukrainian writers, scholars, public figures, among them - M. Gogol, E. Grebinka and others.

In 1832 the gymnasium was transformed into a technical (physico-mathematical) lyceum for the training of military officers, and in 1840 it became a law school preparing officials for the juridical bureaucracy. Its broad curriculum was replaced by a narrow one, and the general level of education fell. The gymnasium taught classical languages, Russian language, and history and prepared teachers for the secondary school system. The program also included courses in psychology and pedagogy. From 1876 to 1921 «Izvestiia Istoriko-filologicheskogo instituta», which contained many original works on Ukrainian and general history by professors and students at the institute, was published there

After the Revolution of 1917 the gynmasium was transformed into the Nizhyn Institute of People's Education (1922) and then into the Institute of Social Education (1930) before becoming the Nizhyn Pedagogical Institute in 1934, the Nizhyn State Pedagogical University in 1998, and finally the Nizhyn State University in 2004.

Now he university is under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Ministry of Education. It consists of seven faculties: philology, history and law, foreign languages, culture and arts, psychology and social sciences, natural sciences, and physics-mathematics.

The Faculty of History and Law is one of the oldest faculties of the Nizhyn State University. Nowadays there are four departments in the structure of the faculty: Department of History of Ukraine and Political Science, Department of World History, Department of Law and Methodology of Teaching of History and Law disciplines, Department of Philosophy and Sociology.

The traditional specialties for this faculty are history and jurisprudence, history, archeology, political science. This year the university conducted a set of students to new faculties: faculty of history and regional studies and tourism work and faculty of international relations, public communications and regional studios.

The attraction to sharing knowledge and experience with international institutions is manifested in the present events of the University.

From June 21 to 28, 2017, the first vice-rector of the Nizhyn State University prof. O.D. Boyko and teachers of the Faculty of History and Law in the person of Dean V.V. Martynenko, Head of the Department of Political Science and Law, F.V. Baranovsky, associate professor of the Department of History of Ukraine M.V. Potapenko and associate professor of the Department of World History and International Relations Y.V. Kuzmenko attended the invitation of the Council of Doctoral Students at the Pedagogical University of the People's Commissariat of Education in Krakow (Republic of Poland).

The main purpose of the visit was to establish cooperation between Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Gogol and the Pedagogical University of the name of the Public Education Commission in Krakow. The delegation of the Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Gogol was able to communicate with the rector of the Pedagogical University Kazimierz Karolchak and the vice-rectors of the educational institution.

On June 26, during an official meeting with the Vice-Rector for International Affairs Robert Soustarz and the Head of the Institute of Political Science at the Pedagogical University, an agreement was reached on the signing of a cooperation agreement between the educational institutions. It is worth saying that cooperation between the Faculty of History and Law of the Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Gogol and the Institute of Political Science at the Pedagogical University in Krakow began in 2016 thanks to the teacher Mateusz Kamiyonca. Thus, in October 2016, the International Conference for Students and Young Scientists "European Integration: Historical Experience and Political Perspectives" was held jointly, and from August 24, 2017, the International Summer School "Challenges for Contemporary Democracy: Ukrainian and Polish Vision", organized by the Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Gogol together with Polish colleagues for the students of the Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Gogol, the Pedagogical University named after the Commission of National Education and all interested students of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland, who were interested or the study of problems democracy.

Its main goal was to deepen knowledge of Ukrainian and Polish students about the threats to modern democracy, the formation of skills for analyzing political processes through direct participation in solving current and future issues of the development of democratic foundations of public life. The active participants of the school were students of the specialties "Political Science", "International Relations" and "History" of the Polish - Pedagogical University named after the Public Education Commission in Krakow, Warsaw University, Rzeszow State University and Ukrainian universities - Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Gogol, Kyiv University. Boris Grinchenko, Lviv National University. I. Franko and the Ternopil National Pedagogical University named after. V. Hnatyuk. Such a format of the event was initiated by Candidate of Sciences, associate professor of the Department of World History and International Relations Yulia Kuzmenko, Candidate of Sciences, associate professor of the Chair of History of Ukraine Maxim Potapenko and a master's degree in political science, a doctoral student, a teacher of the Pedagogical University in Krakow Mateusz Kamionka.

The practical implementation of the results of the international summer school was the presentation, protection and public discussion of collective projects by Ukrainian-Polish teams dedicated to the challenges and threats of democracy in the modern world.

Thanks to the participation in the International Summer School, Ukrainian and Polish students gained the opportunity to exchange experience, set up an inter-ethnic historical-cultural dialogue and received unforgettable impressions. The organized event contributed to the rapprochement of the Ukrainian and Polish peoples and the overcoming of stereotypes.

Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Gogol express the hope that the International Summer School "Challenges for Contemporary Democracy: Ukrainian and Polish Vision" will become traditional and will facilitate the deepening of cooperation between Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Gogol and the Pedagogical University named after the Commission of Education in Krakow.

Representatives of the Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Gogol also took an active part in the work of the III International III-th Interdisciplinary Conference "Nature-Man-Culture". The section "Ukraine and Poland on the road to democracy", in which the speakers from Nizhyn spoke, featured interesting reports and lively discussions.

Literature:

1.    Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine hosted by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com

2.    Головний портал Ніжина. http://www.mynizhyn.com

3.    Офіційний сайт Ніжинського державного університету імені Миколи Гоголя. http://www.ndu.edu.ua/index.php/ua/