BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

The Kyiv Mohyla Academy, or more officially the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA), is the oldest institution of higher learning in Ukraine, dating back to the seventeenth century. In 1632, two smaller schools, the Kyiv Brotherhood and Lavra schools merged to form the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium under the patronage of Petro Mohyla an influential Orthodox theologian and church leader who became Metropolitan of Kyiv and Halych in 1633. In 1658, under the terms of the Treaty of Hadiach between the Cossacks and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was accorded official status as an Academy.

For the next two centuries most of the intellectual and political elite of Ukraine gained their education in its hallowed halls, including Hetman Ivan Mazepa, philosopher Hryhoriy Skovoroda and scientist Mikhail Lomonosov. It was acknowledged as one of the leading centres of learning in Eastern Europe and attracted students from Poland, Russia, Belarus, Moldavia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece.

Following the break-up of the Cossack state and the imposition of Russian rule, the school was closed down by Tsar Alexander I in 1817. In 1819 a smaller theological school, the Kyiv Theological Academy was allowed to re-open, but was limited to religious studies with greatly restricted admissions policies. Under the Soviets, this too was liquidated and the premises taken over by a military school.

In 1991, with the fall of the Soviet state, a new Kyiv-Mohyla Academy arose from the ashes with Dr. Vyacheslav Bryukhovetskiy as its first President. The school modeled itself after North American universities, offering Bachelor and Master level programs, with admissions based strictly on qualifications. In 1992, its first year of operations, the school had an enrolment of 529 students. This grew in succeeding years to 873 in 1993, 1,068 in 1994, 1,496 in 1995, 2,168 in 1996 and 2,895 in 1997. Currently, the academy admits some 1,200 first year students each year and offers a variety of Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral programs under the Faculties of Humanities, Law, Economics, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences & Technologies and Computer Sciences. Instruction is offered in both the Ukrainian and English languages.

One of NaUKMA’s most interesting components is the renowned Kyiv Mohyla Business School. Formed in 2005, it aspires to be one of the top five business schools in Central and Eastern Europe. Its MBA program is recognized as the most prestigious and valued in all of Ukraine. It has close ties to numerous business schools in Canada and the U.S. and a strong faculty of western educated teachers. Chairman of the Board of the Business School is James Temerty, CEO of Canada’s Northland Power Company.

NaUKMA has numerous official affiliations and partnerships with universities throughout the world. In Canada, these include the University of Alberta, Grant MacEwan College (Edmonton), the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario. In the United States, they include the Universities of Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, John Hopkins, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Minnesota, Michigan and Arizona.

Contact Information:

National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
Skovorody St., 2, Kyiv, 04070, Ukraine

www.ukma.kiev.ua

Dr. SERHIY KVIT
President
kwit@ukma.kiev.ua
(+38) (044) 463 58 63