History of the center

The Preparatory Faculty for Foreign Students was established at the Cherkasy branch of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI) in 1988. Foreign citizens came to Cherkasy from all over the world.

The number of international students reached 120-140 in 1988-1990, all of them receiving government-funded tuition.

The Preparatory Faculty gave foreign citizens the opportunity to study in higher educational institutions of the USSR. They studied, as they do now, first of all – language, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, country studies, drawing. Graduates of the Preparatory Faculty received a certificate of education and continued their studies in higher educational institutions of the former Soviet Union republics. The distribution for further education was carried out by the Ministry of Education of the USSR. Some international students continued their studies at our institution after graduating from the Preparatory Department.They were provided with clothing and food, state scholarship , and a dormitory with improved living conditions.

In 1989, the Preparatory Faculty was renamed as the Faculty for Foreign Students. The Faculty began to work both with students who studied in the preparatory department and with students who continued their studies in the I-V years of our university.

The first dean of the Preparatory Faculty was Professor Donchenko Pavlo Arkhypovych, who later became the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs.

The Faculty for Foreign Students in different years was headed by deans:

since 1988 – Shulha Viktor Ivanovych, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor;

since 1989 – Syrota Mykhailo Dmytrovych, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor (Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 1st and 2nd convocations);

since 1992 – Shekhovtsov Borys Anatoliiovych, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor;

since 1996 – Bushyn Mykola Ivanovych, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor;

since 1999 – Shcherba Anatolii Ivanovych, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Associate Professor;

since 2001 – the faculty was  headed again by Professor Bushyn Mykola Ivanovych;

since 2004 – Kanashevych Heorhii Viktorovych, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor;

since 2008 – Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor Yatsenko Oleksandr Volodymyrovych;

since 2014 – Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor Bilokin Taras Hryhorovych.

In 2015, the Faculty for Foreign Students was renamed as Educational and Research Center for Foreign Students.

The Educational and Research Center for Foreign Students in different years was headed by directors:

since 2015 – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor Bilyk Oleksandr Anatoliiovych;

since 2022 – Mazur Oleksandr Petrovych;

From 2023 and till now – Onishchenko Serhii Borysovych.

After the proclamation of Ukraine as an independent state in 1991, the forms of work with foreign citizens changed. The educational process of higher educational institutions was transferred to the state language. The Academic Council of ChETI (Cherkasy Engineering and Technological Institute) decided on 15.11.1993 to rename the Department of Russian Language into the Department of Language Training of Foreign Citizens (the head of the Department – Senior Lecturer N.P. Matsiievska). The number of foreigners, who received government-funded tuition, has sharply decreased. The main number of students who studied at the Preparatory Department and I-V courses were students from different countries who went to study in Ukraine on the contract basis. There was a need to establish direct international relations  between the faculty and various countries of the world, both in terms of student enrollment and economic ties.

 Over 34 years of its existence, the center has studied more than 3000 students from 80 countries (China, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Bangladesh, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Africa, Latin America). More than 250 master’s degree students have been trained and graduated from the Faculty, 35 foreign students have graduated with honors from ChSTU. Five foreign students studied at the Postgraduate school of ChSTU. Master of Technical Sciences Sarvar Ivan (Bangladesh) defended his thesis for the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences (supervisor – Prof. V.M. Sharapov) in 2000.

Graduates of the Faculty for Foreign Students return home as highly qualified specialists. Many of them became good organizers of enterprises, businessmen, politicians. After graduation, foreign students do not lose contact with our faculty and university. A page of ChSTU alumni was created on the Internet. Many foreign graduates became representatives of our educational institution in different countries of the world and contribute to the recruitment of new students. Returning home, students create associations of former graduates, together celebrate traditional Ukrainian holidays, help to find employment for graduates. For example, Mustafa Riad, who now works as a teacher at the university in his homeland, in the good traditions of our students created the “What? Where? When?” club, and also became the host of Ukrainian and Russian music programs on the radio, which is listened to in Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Israel.

 The positions that graduates hold after graduation indicate the quality level of education they received.

Today international relations with other countries develope with the active assistance of the university management and directors of the Educational and Research Center for Foreign Students.

Today, the Educational and Research Center for Foreign Students of Cherkasy State Technological University is a complex structure that shares experience with higher education institutions of other foreign countries and provides: training for teachers; students enrollment at ChSTU from around the world; training of students at the Preparatory Faculty in various programs and areas (engineering, health care, humanities, economics); training of I-V years students; educational work and work on adaptation of the Preparatory Faculty students to the new conditions of study and life.