Viatcheslav Brioukhovetsky
(President, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv, Ukraine)

"The University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy: a Post-Soviet Experiment in Ukraine's Higher Education".

On November 8, Dr. Viatcheslav Brioukhovetsky, President of the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy addressed an attentive audience on the topic "The University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy: A Post-Soviet Experiment in Ukraine's Higher Education." Established in the 17th century by the Metropolitan Petro Mohyla, the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy became a widely respected educational institution and a centre for the development of Ukraine's first national political, cultural, and government elite. The Academy was closed in 1817 by the Russian tsarist government and re-opened in 1992, after a 175-year hiatus. In 1994 the Academy was granted the status of "National University."

Addressing a new history of the university in the 1990s, Dr. Brioukhovetsky recalled the times shortly after Ukraine became an independent state, when he and a group of young scholars decided to re-establish the glory of a famous academy. Dr. Brioukhovetsky's goal was to revive the Ukrainian spirit of the Academy and create an institution of higher learning, which would have a unique curriculum and approach to teaching, and combine the best from both the Soviet and international systems of education.

Today the institution is generally considered to be the principal academic and research school in the country in social sciences and humanities. It is truly bilingual (Ukrainian/English) institution, which employs leading Ukrainian and western scholars. About 2,500 students from all over Ukraine and other countries receive their education at the Academy. Dr. Brioukhovetsky noted with pleasure that the Academy has reached its goal in "the creation of new generation of Ukrainian elite" also because of the changes in the admission process. The introduction of anonymous testing admissions procedures instead of oral or written entry exams that are typical for Ukrainian universities has ensured fair accessibility to all students and created incentives for a truly scholarly environment. This pioneering experience has helped the school to select the best and the brightest students of Ukraine.

At the end of his lecture, the President of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy spoke on the wide international cooperation of the school with the top universities all over the world. Dr. Briuokhovetsky's visit to Canada was particularly fruitful. He signed an agreement between the University of Toronto and Kyiv-Mohyla Academy for graduate student exchanges, offering the opportunity for U of T students to spend a semester at this leading Ukrainian university.

Larysa Iarovenko, Petro Jacyk Program and Natalia Nemyliwska, CREES