The Department of Ukrainian Studies is established in the 1991/1992 academic year on the initiative of Ivan Tarapov, President of O. M. Horkyi Kharkiv State University. The process of the Department creation reflects some nuances of Ukrainianization policy of the former Soviet republic under the conditions of the rapidly changing conjuncture, corresponding reorganization of social sciences and the Humanities, as well as local and particularly university specifics. Consequently, the Department experiences several stages of structural reorganization, changes in faculty members and determination of the nature and the main activity directions:
1) 1992 — 1994;
2) 1994 — 1999;
3) from 1999 to date.
1) Establishment. The faculty of the Department of Ukrainian Studies has been quite diverse from the very beginning and represented by experts in various historical disciplines, including History of the CPSU, History of the Ancient World and Middle Ages, History of Ukraine and Ukrainian Language.
The main achievements of the Department at this stage are teaching of Ukrainian Studies courses in the Ukrainian language at all schools of the University (except for the School of History and the School of Philology), development of a new program on the History of Ukraine, prospective research topics in the field of Ukrainian Studies, issue of the Scientific Notes of the Department of Ukrainian Studies, the Department’s active public activity, including the faculty’s participation in the foundation of Kharkiv Historical and Philological Society, promotion of Ukrainian Studies at the University and in the city. The basis of the Department’s research and teaching is the concept of Ukrainian Studies as a complex of relevant humanitarian disciplines rather than a single integrated course.
At the first initial stage, the Department of Ukrainian Studies exists side by side with the former Department of History of the Communist Party, which in 1991 is called the Department of Political History.
2) Reorganization. The changing political situation in Ukraine as a result of the election of Leonid Kuchma President of the state in 1994, Professor Vasyl Svich joining the University Administration, as well as the changes in the nomenclature of scientific specialities result in administrative reorganization of the Department of Ukrainian Studies. It is merged with the Department of Political History under a new name — All-University Department of History of Ukraine (Headed by Professor Vasyl Tantsiura).
Over the time of its existence (1994-1999) the All-University Department of History of Ukraine graduates eleven PhDs in History, publishes about 100 scientific publications, including V. I. Semenenko`s workbook on the History of Ukraine, two volumes of the Bulletin of Kharkiv State University (Series: History of Ukraine), holds two conferences, etc.
3) Modernization. In 1999, Professor Vil Bakirov is elected President of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv University on the background of the changes taking place in the life of the All-University Department of History of Ukraine. This is the time when it is reorganized into the All-University Department of Ukrainian Studies (Headed by Professor Volodymyr Kravchenko (Doctor of Sciences in History)).
In 2002, the All-University departments, including the Department of Ukrainian Studies, merge to create a new School of Philosophy, with all of them preserving their All-University de facto status for continuing to teach at all University schools.
The faculty of the Department of Ukrainian Studies ensure teaching of historical, philological, certain ethnological and culturological courses. A new culturological direction of development soon takes shape at the Department along with the existing one of Political History of Ukraine and today the Department provides for the ethnic and cultural studies specialization within the Culturology speciality.
The Department offers a wide range of humanitarian disciplines of the historical and culturological nature such as: Historical Anthropology, History of Eastern Europe, Ethnology, Byzantine Civilization, Culture of the Russian Empire, etc.
The research framework of the Department of Ukrainian Studies includes interdisciplinary research in Regional Studies, Boundary Studies, Historical Urban Studies, Historical Memory and Collective Identity. The Department is developing the following research topic: National Identities of Sloboda Ukraine, issues the Bulletin of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (Series: History of Ukraine and Ukrainian Studies: Philosophy and History).
The Department has established and maintains international scientific contacts, particularly with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (University of Alberta), the Ukrainian Research Institute (Harvard University), the Oriental Institute (Poznan University) and the American Council of Scientific Societies.
In 2000, the Department creates a public research organization The Kovalski Eastern Institute of Ukrainian Studies (http://keui. wordpress. com/), affiliated with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (University of Alberta). Its publishing body is the International Historical and Cultural Yearbook East-West (http://keui. wordpress. com/shid_zahid). The Institute organizes annual nationwide competitions of student research works, financially supports Ukrainian science projects and publications.
D. I. Bahalii Center for Ukrainian Studies is created and functioning at the Department thanks to the financial and organizational support of the former lecturer of the Department, Professor Volodymyr Petrovskyi. The Center is the organizational basis for the Ukrainian Oral History Association (President: Associate Professor Helinada Hrinchenko). Since 2008, the Center has been hosting the headquarters of the International Association for the Humanities headed by Professor Vladimir Kravchenko (http://www. mag-iah. com/ua).
The Department of Ukrainian Studies is of experimental character in a way. On the one hand, it does not guarantee its sustainable development in the near future, on the other hand, it offers broad space for development and implementation of innovative projects and original ideas. How much these projects and ideas will be in demand in higher education of Ukraine is hard to predict at the moment.
