V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University was founded on the initiative of the outstanding enlightener Vasyl Karazin and in accordance with the charter of Tsar Alexander I, in November 1804. The formal opening took place on January 29, 1805.
The University history is part and parcel of the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual heritage of Ukraine. For more than two centuries, Karazin University has been extensively engaged in enlightening, making scientific discoveries, improving the educational constituent, implementing a large-scale program of international cooperation, with higher schools in the Kharkiv region and Ukraine, on the whole, developing along the way.
Following ate the names of many world-famous researchers, scholars, and educators are associated with V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, among them are P. Hulak-Artemovskyi, O. Lyapunov, M. Kostomarov, M. Barabashov, M. Beketov, D. Bahaliy, A. Krasnov, M. Ostrohradskyi, V. Steklov, O. Potebnya, O. Pohorelov, and many others.
The University made an important contribution to the Ukrainian national renaissance of the XIX-XXth centuries. It gave a powerful impetus to the emergence of Kharkiv as a major scientific and cultural center and an academic hub of Ukraine. Today the University justly rates among the best Ukrainian classical universities and is known in many countries.
Karazin University is the only university in Ukraine to have trained and employed three Nobel Prize Laureates: biologist Ilya Mechnikov, economist Simon Kuznets, physicist Lev Landau. The training of international students at Karazin University began in 1948. Currently, the University is the leader of Ukraine in the number of international students enrolled, who come from almost all continents. Among others, Karazinites are students from Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, North, and South America. In total, Karazin University’s 21 schools provide training for almost 8000 international students from more than 70 countries of the world.
At different times titles of Kharkiv University Honorary Members and Doctors were conferred on outstanding scholars and public figures of many countries, including J.W. Goethe and A. Humboldt, I. Franko and L. Tolstoy, P. Semenov-Tyanshanskiy, and others.
The University has initiated the whole system of higher education of the Kharkiv Region. Its offspring are the National Academy of Law, the National Pharmaceutical Academy, Kharkiv Medical University, Kharkiv Pedagogical University, the Kharkiv Veterinary Academy, the Kharkiv Academy of Culture, Kharkiv Economic University, and other institutions of higher education.
The University has long-standing traditions of international cooperation and participates in educational and professional associations, which is indicative of the world scientific community’s recognition of its significant role in training dedicated highly-qualified professionals. The University holds high positions in the national and international rankings.
Karazin University community comprises academicians, full and associate professors, PhDs and doctors of sciences, who used to study within its walls. Some of them make Karazin University particularly proud. They are people who have contributed a lot to the development of education, science, culture, sports of Ukraine and the world, and therefore have glorified their Alma Mater.
Today, the University has 21 Schools: the School of Biology; the School of Physics and Technology; the School of Radiophysics, Biomedical Electronics and Computer Systems; the School of Physics; the School of Computer Sciences; the School of Philosophy; the School of Mathematics and Informatics; the School of International Economic Relations and Travel Business; the School of Geology, Geography, Recreation, and Tourism; the School of Ecology; the School of Economics; the School of Foreign Languages; the School of History; the School of Philology; the School of Medicine; the School of Chemistry; the School of Sociology; the School of Psychology; School of Law; Karazin University Business School; the School of Further Education and Retraining and the School of Physics and Energy. The latter was organized together with the UNAS Institute of Mechanical Engineering.
Kharkiv National University offers 115 majors and minors, covering the whole scope of modern classical university education.
The total University enrollment, including the students of the Center for Training International Students and the Center for Presessional Education, amounts to about 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 900 postgraduate students. The University employs up to 1,500 faculty and research staff, including more than 200 doctors of sciences, full professors, and almost 1500 PhDs, associate professors.
Since its foundation, the University has graduated over 130,000 students. The names of the University graduates are commemorated in geographical names, names of space objects, plants and minerals, laws, and formulae. 90 University graduates have become academicians and corresponding members of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences (UNAS).
The University’s faculty include 41 academicians and corresponding members of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and specialized academies of Ukraine, and 50 winners of the State Award. The University has about 39 world-famous scientific schools committed to intensive research, 5 Expert Examining Boards, and 31 Senior Doctorate Expert Examining Board. The University’s researchers annually publish 60 to 65 monographs, collections of research papers, over 9,000 articles and abstracts, and hold 50 to 65 international conferences.
The University is the leading research organization of international several space programs. Within the framework of international programs, its researchers co-operate with scientists from the USA, Canada, Russia, Germany, Turkey, China, Japan, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Great Britain, and other countries.
The activities of the University have developed Kharkiv into a major industrial, scientific and cultural center. Many Kharkiv streets are named after professors, researchers, and alumni of the University.
The University is one of the largest research centers in Ukraine. It covers virtually all spheres of modern fundamental research and incorporates the Research Institutes of Chemistry, Biology, and Astronomy, the Institute of Physics and Engineering, and the Institute of High Technologies.
Since 1808 the University has had its own Astronomical Observatory which is one of the leading astronomical centers of Ukraine involved in fundamental and applied research in the Physics of the Sun, the planets, asteroids, comets, and satellites.
The University’s Botanical Garden was founded in 1804 and is the oldest botanical garden in Ukraine. It is a state preserve with a unique collection of plants representing various botanical and geographic zones of the world.
The University’s Natural History Museum was founded in 1807 and is one of the oldest university museums in the world. Every year it opens its doors to 22,000 visitors. The total area of the Museum exhibition facilities is 2,000 square meters, and its 23 halls feature about 250,000 exhibits organized into the following sections: the Origin of Man, Darwinism, Zoology, and Geology. The University also has the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography of Slobidska Ukraine with about 150,000 exhibits.
The University’s Central Scientific Library was founded on January 30, 1805. In 1987, the decree of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine established it as an institution of special social importance. It numbers 3,500,000 units, including 50,000 unique editions (17 incunabula, over 1,000 manuscripts, 300 palaeotypes, and books by classical writers and scholars published in their lifetime).
In October 1999, according to the decree of the President of Ukraine, Kharkiv State University gained the status of a National University and was named in honor of its founder, V.N. Karazin.
In 2003, following the decree of the President of Ukraine, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University obtained the highest status of a self-governing (autonomous) state university.
V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University is involved in extensive international cooperation and is an active member of the international community of the leading European and world universities. It cooperates with 61 partners in 25 countries of the world.
Together with other major European universities, in 1988 Kharkiv National University signed the Great University Charter that initiated the Bologna Process.
The University is a co-founder of the Eurasian University Association and is a member of the World and the European University Associations.
In January 2020, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University marked the 215th anniversary of its foundation.
| Acronym | KhNU |
| Accreditation | IV |
| Status | State |
| Established | 1804 |
| Teaching staff | 1 900 |
| Students trained | 150 000+ |
| Majors |
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