Chernivtsi University

Chernivtsi National University (full name Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Ukrainian: Чернівецький національний університет імені Юрія Федьковича) is a public university in the City of Chernivtsi in Western Ukraine. One of the leading Ukrainian institutions for higher education, it was founded in 1875 as the Franz-Josephs-Universität when Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) was the capital of the Duchy of Bukovina, a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary. Today the university is based at the Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans building complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011.

History

In 1775, the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy had obtained the territory of Bukovina, which from 1786 was administrated within the Chernivtsi district of Galicia. Under the rule of Emperor Joseph II, the sparsely populated territory was settled by German colonists, mainly from Swabia. Together with the Austrian administrative officials they formed a separate population group and by the late 19th century, several institutes of higher education arose with the German language of instruction, including Gymnasien in Chernivtsi and Suceava. As the graduates still had to leave Bukovina to study in the western parts of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the local administration developed plans to found an own university.

Chernivtsi

Chernivtsi (Ukrainian: Чернівці́ [t͡ʃɛrnʲiβ̞ˈt͡sʲi], Romanian: Cernăuți [tʃerˈnəutsʲ]; Yiddish: טשערנאָוויץ‎ Tschernowitz; see also other names) is a city in western Ukraine, situated on the upper course of the River Prut. Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast (province) – the northern, Ukrainian part of the historical Moldavian region of Bukovina. At the time of the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of the city was 240,600.

Together with the city of Lviv, Chernivtsi is viewed at present to be a cultural center of western Ukraine. The city is also considered one of modern Ukraine's greatest cultural, educational and architectural centers. Historically a cosmopolitan cultural center, Chernivtsi was even dubbed "Little Vienna" and "Jerusalem upon the Prut". Chernivtsi is currently twinned with seven other cities around the world. The city is a major regional rail and road transportation hub, also housing an international airport.

Name

Aside from its Ukrainian name of Chernivtsi, the city is also known by many different names in various languages, which still are used by the respective population groups much as they used to be throughout the city's history, either in connection with the rule by one country or another or independently from it: Romanian: Cernăuți; German: Czernowitz; Polish: Czerniowce; Hungarian: Csernovic, Russian: Черновцы́, translit. Chernovtsy (until 1944: Чернови́цы, translit. Chernovitsy). In the times of Halych-Volyn Principality the city's name was Chern.