Ukrainian Higher Pedagogical Institute

Ukrainian Higher Pedagogical Institute [Український високий педагогічний інститут ім. М. Драгоманова; Ukrainskyi vysokyi pedahohichnyi instytut im. M. Drahomanova]. A pedagogical school in Prague, founded in 1923 by the Ukrainian Civic Committee in Czechoslovakia. It received financial support from the Czechoslovak government and trained teachers for elementary education and extramural education. In 1925 it increased the program of study from two to four years and in addition began training teachers for secondary schools. The institute had departments of literature-history, mathematics-sciences, and, from 1924, choral music. The faculty consisted of 78 members. Over the period of its existence the institute graduated 178 students, most of whom went on to teach in schools in Transcarpathia. In 1924 a gymnasium was attached, which in 1925 became the Ukrainian Gymnasium in Czechoslovakia. The institute’s publication activity consisted of 44 course outlines, 3 volumes of the journal Pratsi (1929–33) put out by its own publishing house, Siiach, and 11 other works published by the Ukrainian Publishing Fund in Prague. In 1933 the Czechoslovak government cut off funding, and the institute was forced to close. The rectors of the institute were Leonid Biletsky, Vasyl Simovych, and Vsevolod Harmashiv.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]