The 20th Anniversary of the Faculty of the Humanities

In 2012 it is 20 years since the Faculty of the Humanities was organized in the National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine. The appearance of such structural department in the technical institution of higher education was dictated by the terms of time. Due to the complicated situation which existed in the Ukrainian industry because of the Soviet economy collapse the real problems as for the employment of the graduates from the Academy arose.
In 1992 on the initiative of the former rector of the Academy Yu. N. Taran-Zhovnir the faculty was given the task to create the conditions for the students to get the second scholarship specialty simultaneously with their studying at the technical and economic departments of the Academy. It increased the possibilities of the future specialists’ employment. Acquiring knowledge and skills in management, marketing, banking, programming, psychology, sociology and political science, creatology, translation and other fields of science our graduates became much more competitive.
In 1992-2002 about two thousand of students obtained the second specialty which helped them to find their first jobs as managers, operators and programmers, translators and interpreters, etc. at the enterprises, in different companies and banks. The knowledge acquired during the study at the Faculty of the Humanities enriched intellectually and spiritually those graduates who began to work in the technical field and undoubtedly it fostered their promotion. We are proud of the fact that professors A. N. Golovko, V. Yu. Seliverstov, associate professors V. D. Zelikman, R. B. Sokol’skaya, N. S. Rulikova, L. S. Kvasova, T. A. Ayupova and others studied at the Faculty of the Humanities in due time.
In 2001 according to the academy administration’s resolution the faculty began to train the full-time students of humanities. The academy administration timely became aware of the new tendency which consists in the necessity of the graduates who are interested in cross-disciplinary (technical and scholarship) knowledge.
At first the license on the specialty in the field of intellectual property was obtained. Even nowadays there is a deficiency in the qualified specialists for the creation of the objects of intellectual property, safety and protection of the intellectual property rights (an invention, an industrial model, a trade mark, a computer program, a database, a trade name, a scientific discovery, a trade secret, etc.), the solution of the problems as for the conveyance of property and the sale of such a product.
Sovereign Ukraine lacked for the specialists in the documentation, informational managers, administration assistants, informational analysts, information service workers of enterprises and organizations, institutions of scientific and technical information. Soon the faculty began training the specialists in documentation and information activity who were focused on the activity in state authorities of different levels, in information agencies and information and analytical services, in the centres of scientific and technical information, standardization and certification of commercial products, in patent and marketing departments of different organizations, in personnel management and documentation service, in mass media.
Since 2004 The National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine has trained translators and interpreters from English and German. Their professional knowledge allow them to accomplish the written translation of technical, scientific, social and economic and business texts, to carry out the consecutive and simultaneous interpretation during business negotiations, meetings and conferences. The active international cooperation in different fields creates a demand for such specialists in the Ukrainian society.
Finally, it should be mentioned that since 2004 the Academy began to teach students in the specialty of “Pedagogic”. They become the specialists of vocational training in the field of metallurgy. The Department of Engineering Pedagogic together with the technical departments trains the future teachers of engineering and procedures disciplines for vocational schools, technical schools, colleges and other educational institutions.
The preparation for licensing and training students in the above mentioned specialties demanded from the faculty the intensive organizational, methodological and scientific work. The new departments such as the Department of Intellectual Property, the Department of Business Documentation Management and Information Activity, the Department of Engineering Pedagogic appeared at the Faculty of the Humanities. The Philological Department which was transformed into the Department of Translation and Foreign Languages broadened and intensified its activity. Other departments of the faculty took an active part in the development of syllabuses and preparation to the training of new specialists in new specialties.
During this period of the faculty formation many faculty members upgraded their professional skills. In recent years 5 Doctoral theses and 12 Candidate’s dissertations have been defended, 25 scientific monographs and more than 600 research papers have been published. The senior teachers of faculty have received titles of honor such as “Honored Worker in the Field of Education of Ukraine” (associate professor V.T. Britan) and “The Honored Worker in the Field of Physical Training and Sports of Ukraine” (associate professor V.A. Khadzhinov).
Nowadays the Faculty of the Humanities consists of 8 departments (the Department of History and Study of Ukraine, the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Social and Political Sciences, the Department of Physical Upbringing and Sports, the Department of Translation and Foreign Languages, the Department of Business Documentation Management and Information Activity, the Department of Intellectual property, the Department of Engineering Pedagogic) where more than 110 teachers and employees are working, including 10 professors, Doctors of Science, and 60 associate professors, Candidates of Science. More than 320 students are studying at the faculty and excellent students constitute 20 percent of them.  
The number of the graduates of the Faculty of the Humanities amounts to 550. Many of them are working as specialists in the fields of acquired specialties.
So, O. Bezuglaya is a manager assistant in the company of close corporation “Linde Gas Ukraine”, N, Chekanova is a translator and manager of foreign-economic activity in the company “Varitek”, L. Maksimenko is a PR-manager of Internet technology company, O. Yeres’ko is a PR-project manager, A. Koshubskaya is a key specialist of the Domestic Policy Administration of the Dnipropetrovs’k Municipality, Yu. Bondarenko is a computer engineer at school No. 87, A. Stolyarova is a teacher at Technical College No. 17, N. Oplakanets is a secretary of the curriculum department of Mining and Engineering Lyceum, R. Senyuk is a Deputy of General Manager of the State Scientific, Research and Planning Institute of Titanium, O. Davidovich is a head of the patent department of the Institute of Technical Mechanics, A. Trikoz is a main specialist of Antimonopoly Committee, A. Sveshnikova is a key specialist of the patent sector of the State Enterprise “UkrGipromez”, M. Goryanaya is an engineer of the Intellectual Property Department at the Institute of Iron Industry.
In order to fulfill the items of “The Conception of the Scholarship Development of Ukraine for the period up to 2020” which provides for the formation of a new life quality, the creation of a new knowledge society, the increasing of the social activity, a cultural and political consolidation of nation, the faculty meets the new multifarious tasks.
The intellectual potential of nation is a basic element of a knowledge society formation and the effective resource of the dynamic growth of the domestic economy. The development of this potential presupposes the creation of the conditions for a high-quality education and access to the wealth of world culture. Therefore the actual tasks for our faculty are the adoption of European Educational Quality Standards, the intensification of a scientific component in the education and further improvement of students’ and teachers’ foreign language knowledge.
The culture as a phenomenon influences greatly upon the development of new technologies, professional skills of teachers, the effectiveness of managers’ decisions, the motivation of the production activity.
The modernization of our country is impossible without the participation of the young people as a social group, which is disposed to the innovations and changes most of all. That is why the task of the scholarship education is to increase the social activity of young people and to join them to the civic and social activity.
The important tasks inspired us to achieve new positive results.