26 August 2012 Charity. Education. UCU

UCU College Opens in Lviv

The inauguration of the new college of the Ukrainian Catholic University took place in Lviv today. This is the first building of the University complex which also includes lecture rooms, library and information and resource center, a conference hall, chapel and pastor’s center. The UCU’s campus construction is the largest university construction project across the whole of Eastern Europe.

The first speakers at the college opening ceremony gathering several hundred students, professors, UCU friends and patrons were the University rector, His Holiness Borys Gudziak and Mr. Dmitry Firtash, Head of the Board of Directors of Group DF and one of the major donors of the college construction project.

“There is no strong state where there is no quality education. I am very happy to have met with an opportunity to support the people who were nurturing the idea of building the world class university. I am sure that UCU graduates will become top-notch professionals making their decent contribution into building up the good of Ukraine,” said Mr. Firtash.

The University’s administration, faculty and students endorsed Mr. Firtash’s proposal to name the college after Josyf Slipyj, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and founder of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome 50 years ago. “Josyf Slipyj’s life was full of hardships but they did not break him. Throughout his life journey, he remained faithful to the God and to his mission. I think it will only be right and fair if we pay tribute to our outstanding compatriot by giving his name to our college,” suggested Dmitry Firtash.

Borys Gudziak noted that the college will offer an optimum environment for students’ learning, creative and spiritual growth. “This is the perfect environment for communication, work and leisure of its inhabitants – students and professors. Such a format of students’ out-of-class education is unique not only for Lviv but also for the whole of Ukraine,” stressed Borys Gudziak.

The UCU campus construction commenced in the fall of 2010. The design was authored by renowned US architects whose works portfolio proudly boasts over 20 designs of the world’s leading universities including Harvard, Yale and Princeton.

UCU is the only Catholic university in the post-Soviet area while globally there are over 1350 Catholic colleges and universities operating 67 countries. These higher education institutions offer curricula that go beyond the narrow confessional component. The first universities in Europe such as the Sorbonne in Paris, Charles in Prague, Jagiellonian in Krakow emerged in the environment of the Catholic Church.

Quite a few eminent personalities graduated from Catholic educational establishments during the history of their existence: Ukraine’s Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, inventor of the theory of relativity Albert Einstein, ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy, ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the 42^nd President of the US Bill Clinton and others.

NOTE

The Ukrainian Catholic University is one Ukraine’s leading non-governmental higher educational establishments open for secular students irrespective of their religion. In parallel with access to quality humanitarian education, students acquire leadership skills, abilities to meet social challenges and personal development stimuli.

The notion of a catholic university today is identified with high quality of academic learning. The students’ comprehensive development is nourished by the intellectual and social environment: the University boasts a modern library and a computer center. Students’ research efforts are guided by seven subdepartments and rely on support of eight R&D institutions.