The Ukrainian Catholic University: achievements, perspectives and contributions to tomorrow's world

By Dr Borys Gudziak, Ph.D
Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University

Mission

The Ukrainian Catholic University is an open academic community living the Eastern Christian tradition and forming leaders to serve with professional excellence in Ukraine and internationally — for the glory of God, the common good, and the dignity of the human person.

Brief History of the Institution

Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky took the first step towards creating a Ukrainian Catholic university by founding the Greek Catholic Theological Academy in Lviv in 1928, with Rev. Josyf Slipyj as the first rector. Though the Soviets closed the Academy in 1944, Academy alumni formed the backbone of the underground Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church during the Communist persecution.

Upon his release from Siberia in 1963, Cardinal Slipyj founded the Ukrainian Catholic University of Pope St. Clement in Rome, which offered a small seminary program and a number of summer programs for students from around the Ukrainian diaspora. In the 1960s and 1970s, several international branches of the university developed in Europe and the Americas which fostered the traditions and name of the Ukrainian Catholic University.

In 1992, soon after the declaration of Ukrainian independence, faculty and alumni of the university in Rome began planning the revival of the academy in Ukraine and in 1994 the Lviv Theological Academy was reestablished, with a broad student body of male and female laypeople and religious, as well as seminarians. In addition to the core subjects of philosophy and theology, the curriculum put an emphasis on a broad classical education with attention to language learning and in 1995 the first summer schools in English and Theology began. In recent years, between ten and fifteen summer programs and outreach programs have been operating annually.

In 1998, the theology program of the Academy received recognition from the Congregation for Catholic Education and in 1999 the first class graduated. In June, 2001, Pope John Paul II blessed the cornerstone of UCU's new building and a year later the university was ceremoniously inaugurated as the first Catholic university on the territory of the former Soviet Union. In 2002, the university also was legally reregistered and received recognition for its undergraduate program in history from the Ministry of Education.

In spring 2006, Ukraine's Ministry of Education finally accredited UCU's theology program and so in the summer of that year the university was finally able to award government-recognized degrees in theology to its graduates. The university also had its first graduates in history in summer 2006. In fall 2006, the university started a bachelor's degree program in Social Pedagogy, giving a Christian emphasis to social work.

Since Ukraine's Orange Revolution of November-December 2004, the university has been involved with important social issues, such as problems of corruption in the election process and the reform of education in Ukraine. Since then, the rector has met with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko a number of times. The rector also has had ongoing contact with Lviv's Mayor and the Governor of Lviv Oblast, who willingly assisted in the process of government accreditation of the theology program.

First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko visited the university's new Faculty of Philosophy and Theology in September, 2007 and expressed great interest in its social programs, which she plans to support through the Ukraine 3000 foundation, of which she is the chair.

UCU Today

The new Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) is the first Catholic university on the territory of the former Soviet Union . It has the mission of training Christian leaders for contemporary Ukraine, a country of nearly 50 million people facing dramatic cultural and social changes. The university in Lviv is the center of the intellectual and spiritual life of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches. In the few years since its re-foundation in Ukraine (in 1994 as the Lviv Theological Academy, and since 2002 as UCU) it has assumed a unique position in the academic, social, ecclesial, and even political life of the city of Lviv and the country at large.

Ukraine has been independent for over a decade and a half, but is still predominantly a post-Soviet, state-run society. Accordingly, the educational system continues to face severe structural, legislative, economic, and ethical problems. The Ukrainian Catholic University is striving to provide a real and effective alternative that will prepare its students to face the mounting challenges of the 21 st century. Systematically, UCU is proposing a model for the reform of post-Soviet higher education.

The diverse student body of nearly a thousand seminarians and religious and lay students includes Eastern Catholics, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox from all three Ukrainian jurisdictions. Students come not only from Ukraine but also from Western Europe, North America, Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Brazil and Argentina. The faculty is also international and ecumenical. Fostering intercultural, cross-institutional, and interdisciplinary cooperation is both a goal and conscious method at UCU. The university has been able to articulate a clear Christian identity and maintain an atmosphere of openness and academic freedom. Developing the spirit of community and service , inherited from the underground Church and forged during the first, very humble, years of university activity, is a priority in the UCU strategy.

The school of philosophy and theology has already become the premier religious institution of higher learning in Ukraine , and UCU has simultaneously developed an intensive program in the humanities, especially history. The university's research and pastoral institutes have won recognition for their scholarly publications, digitalized archives and data bases, international conferences, ecumenical seminars, and social programs. The library and technological facilities are the finest in Ukraine in its areas. The university has earned a reputation for innovative academic content and form, creative communication and aesthetic presentation of its proposals to society, as well as an atmosphere of openness and warm hospitality towards all people of good will.

In recent years, particularly after the Orange Revolution, the values promoted by UCU are attracting the attention of a new generation of local and national government officials and young business leaders who see the university as an agent for positive change in society. Now is the time to take a bold step forward and complete the University's next phase: the creation of a wide range of undergraduate curricula, selected graduate programs, and adequate facilities for its mission. An independent Ukraine needs an independent university, which fosters excellence, integrity and faith.

At present, the Faculties of Philosophy-Theology and Humanities are the core of UCU with over one hundred full and part-time faculty members and visiting professors. UCU conducts academic research in several fields, including religion and society, European and church history, patristics and classics, ecumenism, and liturgy, through its chairs and the operation of special institutes. The Catechetical-Pedagogical Institute trains catechists and educators who come from all regions of Ukraine and who work with children, youth, and adults in parishes and communities as well as teachers of Christian education and ethics in primary and secondary schools.

After a century of devastation, the hope for straightforward systems within society is hardly a given. Ukraine is a country facing severe economic and social problems, but these hardships can occasion dynamic and compelling solutions. Corruption plagues the post-Soviet world. Unfortunately, educational institutions are no exception. At state universities bribery and cheating are everyday realities. The first goal of the Ukrainian Catholic University has been to provide students with a normal academic life, free from concerns of bribery and cheating. The corruption-free environment of UCU is a widely acknowledged model for reformers of higher education in Ukraine.

An integral part of the Ukrainian Catholic University's mission is reaching out to society and promoting ecumenism and interfaith cooperation in Ukraine. Through lectures, conferences, and joint projects, the university has worked hard to improve relations between Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Ukraine as well as relations between Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Anglican Christians.

Although modest in size, UCU's influence will continue to increase through its quality and standards that show what is possible with hard work and dedication to principles. Partnerships with international academic institutions such as the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Harvard University, the Pontifical institutes in Rome, and the Universities of Eichstatt, Innsbruck, Leuven, Lublin, Vienna, Warsaw, Wurzburg and many others are a vital component of UCU's commitment to the highest standards.

UCU graduates are already making an impact on Ukrainian society . As priests, they are involved in leading roles in parishes and diocesan and patriarchal curias. They are creating chaplaincies in psychiatric hospitals, the military forces, and state-run universities; all of these are new areas of ministry for post-Soviet Ukraine. Lay graduates are in government service in Kyiv and Lviv, print and broadcast media, business, and charitable organizations. Many are earning graduate degrees in Europe and North America. Some of them already are professors, librarians and editors at UCU. In the future, graduates will be working in a vast range of professions and will be bringing a Christian point of view to business and public affairs.

Faculties and Academic Programs

The university's Faculty of Philosophy and Theology and Faculty of Humanities together with seven research institutes and seven summer school programs offer a number of degree and non-degree programs.

Within the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology, students earn a Bachelor of Theology degree recognized by the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, as well as the 4- and 5-year program degrees respectively of Bachelor and Specialist of Philosophy, accredited by the Ukrainian government.

The Humanities Faculty offers a 4- and 5-year undergraduate program leading to the government-accredited degrees of Bachelor and Specialist of History.

Other university degrees include Bachelor and Specialist of Social Pedagogy, a two-year graduate Licentiate degree in Theology, Diploma in the teaching of Christian ethics and catechism, Master of Religious Studies, and Master of Ecumenical Studies.

Non-degree programs are offered through UCU's summer schools in Ukrainian language and culture, English language, German language, theology, iconography, lay leadership, and a summer school for choir directors.

Student and Faculty Profile

The university has over a thousand students , the majority in degree programs with additional students each year in summer or short-term programs. The Faculty of Philosophy and Theology includes approximately 400 students total, the Humanities Faculty 160, Catechetical-Pedagogical Institute 350, and other institutes, special programs and summer schools attract approximately 150 students each year.

Most of the laypeople studying at the university are Ukrainian Greek Catholics, though there are Orthodox and members of other faiths. Most of the university's students are from the westernmost areas of Ukraine, though some come from southern and eastern Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Germany and Canada.

Recent UCU graduates have gone on to further study at over 30 institutions worldwide in the Austria, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine and the U.S.

The university has approximately 230 full-time staff and 60 part-time staff who include 80 recent graduates of the university, many of whom have earned master's and doctoral degrees in the U.S., Germany, Italy, Austria, and other countries.

The faculty includes members of the Ukrainian Catholic, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Armenian Apostolic churches.

Research, Publications and Websites

UCU promotes learning and service to society through its seven research institutes , namely, the Institute of Church History, Catechetical-Pedagogical Institute, Institute of Liturgy, Institute of Religion and Society, Institute of Ecumenical Studies, Institute of Family and Married Life, and Institute of Canon Law. The Ukrainian Catholic University Press and research institutes currently publish some 20 titles per year. A number of publications have received special awards. Several institutes have published texts separately. Academic journals are published by the Department of Theology, Department of Classics, Institute of Church History, and Institute of Liturgy. UCU departments and institutes host a number of internet sites , including the university's home site, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church website, the Religious Information Service of Ukraine, Institute of Canon Law, Institute of Church History, and Institute of Liturgy (with large database projects located within the last two).

Facilities and Resources

The university is located at two main campuses , Sventsitskoho Street Campus and the Theological Center, with a third campus within a 15-minute walk from Sventsitskoho at Stryjskyj Park. The two current campuses include a total of over 10,000 sq. m. of usable space. The planned campus at Stryjskyj Park (3.96 hectares) will include a large library, classroom buildings, faculty offices, university residence building and a church. Residences for students and faculty at four locations conveniently located near the Sventsitskoho Street campus include housing for 46 students and 3 faculty guests.

Technological Infrastructure includes a network of approximately 350 personal computers and 15 servers. The main library contains over 110,000 books and journals in its electronic catalogs. The library's collection grows at the rate of 10,000 volumes per year.

Administrative Structure

Grand Chancellor: His Beatitude Lubomyr Husar, Head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church

Board of Trustees (Senate):

His Excellency Dionisiy Lyakhovych, Auxiliary Bishop of the Major Archbishop of the Kyiv-Halych Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, chair

His Excellency Ihor Vozniak, Archbishop of Lviv

Dr Borys Gudziak, Ph.D., Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University

Dr. Taras Dobko, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs of the Ukrainian Catholic University (delegate from the Academic Council)

Prof. Taras Finikov , Pro-rector for International Projects and Head of the Department of Educational Management of KROK Economics and Law University (Kyiv)

John Hewko , Esq . Vice-President of Operations, Millennium Challenge Corporation (USA)

Olexander Suhonyako, President of the Association of Ukrainian Banks

Prof. Jeffrey Wills, Vice President of the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation (USA)

Krzysztof Zanussi , movie director (Poland), Consultant to the Pontifical Council for Culture

Prof. Maria Zubrytska , Pro-rector of Lviv National University

Find out more at www.ucu.edu.ua