National University of Ostroh Academy sees itself as Oxford of Ukraine
by Roma Hadzewycz
PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Imagine, if you will, an Oxford in Ukraine. That's the vision of the National University of Ostroh Academy, located in the historic small town of Ostroh, in the Rivne Oblast of Ukraine. In 10 years, university officials hope, Ostroh Academy - which this year marks the 425th anniversary of its founding - will be the Ukrainian Oxford, and Ostroh will be an internationally renowned academic town much like the English town it sees as its model.
The rector and vice-rector of the National University of Ostroh Academy, respectively, Ihor Pasichnyk and Natalia Lominska, recently visited the United States to speak about the school's program and its prospects for the future. In their presentation - titled "The Task of Educating Future Patriotic Leaders in a Democratic Ukraine" - Dr. Pasichnyk and Prof. Lominska both underlined that Ostroh accepts only the top students from all parts of Ukraine and that its educational program is geared not only toward academic excellence but toward producing patriotic adults who will assume leadership positions in diverse fields of endeavor in Ukraine.
"The people who attended our presentation were very excited about the rebirth of the Ostroh Academy. And many now want to visit us," Dr. Pasichnyk related in an interview at The Ukrainian Weekly. His colleague, Prof. Lominska, noted the warmth with which they were received by Ukrainian Americans in the Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and New York/New Jersey metropolitan areas.
The duo also spoke before audiences at the School of Education at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and Northern Illinois University. NIU and Ostroh, it should be noted, have established regular contacts and have a joint master's program.
A 12th century town
Records of Ostroh date back to 1100; during the 16th and 17th centuries this small town in Ukraine was famous as a political, cultural and educational center.
There in 1576, under the patronage of Prince Vasyl Kostiantynovych Ostrozsky, the first institution of higher education in Eastern Europe was established: the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. Among the academy's famous graduates are Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachnyi; the founders of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, Yov Boretskyi and Elisei Pletenetskyi; and Meletii Smotrytskyi, Orthodox churchman, philologist and author of the famous textbook on Slavonic grammar published in 1619.
It was also in Ostroh in 1581 that the notable printer Ivan Fedorovych printed his most famous book, the Ostroh Bible, the first full Church Slavonic edition of the Old and New Testaments. The academy remained active through the 1630s.
During recent decades intellectuals in Ukraine had dreamed of reviving this higher educational institution. Ultimately the school was reborn after Ukraine regained its independence.
By decree of President Leonid Kravchuk on April 12, 1994, the Ostroh High Collegium was established as the successor to the illustrious academy. Two years later, President Leonid Kuchma issued another decree that renamed the institution the Ostroh Academy. Successive presidential decrees proclaimed the institution a university and a national university.
Ostroh Academy today
The National University of Ostroh Academy has two working languages, Ukrainian and English, a constantly expanding library that today holds more than 250,000 volumes, including the latest editions and many foreign language editions, and a new generation of faculty members - the average age of professors is 33 - all highly qualified scholars.
The university also boasts prominent visiting professors and foreign lecturers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, Germany and Switzerland. Exchange programs exist with institutions in Canada, the United States and Poland.
Its student body comprises 1,200 young Ukrainians ranging in age from 17 to 24, with 40 percent of the students hailing from eastern Ukraine. There are also a number of students from the Ukrainian diaspora in Russia. Soon the university hopes to open its doors to foreign students - at first as students at special summer courses and eventually as full-time matriculated students.
Undergraduates at Ostroh now study economics, finance, law, foreign languages (there is a major in English, while German, French, Polish and Spanish are minors) and humanities (history, cultural studies, and documents and information analysis). Beginning in September, political science will be offered. On the graduate level, Ostroh offers history and psychology, as well as a certificate program for specialists in Christian ethics.
Admission is very competitive, as there are 23 applicants for each slot and a written exam is required for entrance. "We accept only the best of the best" based on their qualifications, not on their connections, said Prof. Lominska. Our goal, she continued, "is not only to educate, but to produce patriots of Ukraine." Toward that end, the university teaches its students the history of Ukraine and of the diaspora, as well as other courses aimed at stressing the students' Ukrainian identity.
Forty-one of the school's students are now studying in all parts of the world, and none, according to the two university officials, have expressed a desire to remain abroad. All want to return to Ukraine and put the knowledge gained abroad to good use in their homeland.
Tuition is $300 per year and the university is funded by the government, philanthropists, individual citizens of Ukraine and supporters in the diaspora. Although the bulk of its funding does come from the government, Ostroh Academy is autonomous, which means the university has the right to determine its curriculum and choose its students. Furthermore, the rector is chosen by the faculty and students; a 90 percent vote of approval is required for the person who holds that position.
Dr. Pasichnyk, who has served as rector since its rebirth in 1994, was born in the village of Hlynky, Rivne Oblast, in 1946. He attended Kyiv State University, Lviv State University and the Rivne Pedagogical Institute, receiving his candidate's degree in 1981 and his doctorate in psychology in 1993.
He has published more than 50 scholarly articles; his book "The Psychology of Stage Formation, Operation and Structure in Systematization" was published by Ostroh Academy.
Prof. Lominska was born in Ostroh in 1969. She graduated from Lviv State University with a degree in philology. She was hired as a professor of English at Ostroh in 1994 and was appointed vice-rector in 1999.
In 1997 she became one of three Ostroh professors who enrolled at Northern Illinois University as part of the NIU/Ostroh project in "Democracy and Education," funded in part by the Eurasia Foundation. Her NIU thesis was on "Language Education in Ukraine and National Identity: A Historical Analysis," and she graduated with a master of science degree in education. Her thesis was published this year by Ostroh Academy in a bilingual Ukrainian-English edition.
A permanent endowment
Ostroh Academy's rector and vice-rector explained that one of their goals is to create a stable endowment fund based on hard currency. To be called the International Fund for the Rebirth of Ostroh Academy, its long-term goal is $1 million. One of the goals of the endowment is to provide an excellent education for talented orphans who would not otherwise be able to afford attending Ostroh.
"Ukraine must be built, and our graduates will do this," Dr. Pasichnyk stated with certainty during his presentations. That message appears to have been heard loud and clear, and the appreciation of this goal was reflected in the reaction at community gatherings.
During their tour of Ukrainian American communities Dr. Pasichnyk and Prof. Lominska succeeded in raising $20,000. In comparison, since 1997 they had raised $25,000 in North America. The donations collected are meant to provide support for the university's general fund, as well as funding for scholarships, the reconstruction of a historic 16th century church that will be transformed into an ecumenical house of worship - the first such church in all of Ukraine - and for the permanent endowment fund.
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For further information, write to National University of Ostroh Academy, 2 Seminarska Street, Ostroh, Rivne Oblast, Ukraine 265620.
Donations, via checks made out to the Ukrainian National Foundation (which functions under the aegis of the Ukrainian National Association) with the notation "Ostroh Fund" may be sent to: Dr. Myron B. Kuropas, chairman, Friends of Ostroh Academy, 107 Ilehamwood Drive, DeKalb, IL 60115.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 24, 2001, No. 25, Vol. LXIX
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