History of the Department
Until 2014, the well consolidated team of experienced and young teachers was headed by Doctor of Philology, Professor Volodymyr Dmytrovych Kaliushchenko. 3 Doctor habil. and 10 Cand. Sc. (Philology) have worked under his authority.
Since 2014 the associate professor Danzl Larysa Serhiivna was appointed the head of the department.
Most of the colleagues of the department are currently graduates of our faculty who have completed internships in well-known educational institutions in Germany.
Since the foundation of the department, teachers and assistants have successfully combined the educational process and the scientific research. The research priorities are typological and comparative linguistics and diachronic research of Germanic languages (the head researchers were Prof. V.D. Kaliushchenko, Prof. O.R. Basirov and Prof. L.M. Yagupova).
In cooperation with the Institute of Research on Germany and the Department of German Language History of the Ruhr University, a research project was implemented with the financial support of the Volkswagen Foundation. Significant achievements of this project were the monograph “Typologie denominaler Verben”. – Tübingen, 2000 (author – Prof. V.D. Kaliushchenko), and two textbooks on German studies: “Deutschland: Wandel durch Zeiten” (author – Assoc. Prof. L.I. Kislyakova) and “Deutschland: Streifzüge durch die Kultur” (authors – Assoc. Prof. L.I. Kislyakova and M.V. Borisenko).
The high level of training specialists at the department is achieved by a skillful combination of professionalism with material and methodological support of the educational process. Students have well-equipped classrooms, a computer class, a wide selection of fine literature, a large collection of audio and video recordings as well as modern notebooks.
The availability of the contemporary technical equipment has a positive effect on the quality of the educational process, and thus on the level of fundamental and professional training of students. It is no coincidence that the Goethe Institute (Germany, Munich), which disseminates knowledge of the German language and culture in many countries and has a branch in Kyiv, opened two centers at the department – Educational and Methodological Center and the Center for Learning the German Language (until 2014). The Goethe Institute also held regional seminars at the department.
Specialists from Germany – foundationers of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) – conduct classes with students on conversational practice and translation. The top students can receive a scholarship from DAAD to study at one of the German universities of their choice based on testing and competition.
The educational and material opportunities and the efforts of a qualified team of teachers give noticeable results. At the All-Ukrainian German Language Olympiads, our students have traditionally won prizes. In 2003-2006, this Olympiad was held by our Department of German Philology on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
Students of the department are not only proficient in German language, but also have the conditions for scientific research. They have always participated in all-Ukrainian scientific student conferences and received diplomas for the best scientific reports. Such graduates annually replenish and update the teaching staff of the department. Graduates of the department successfully carry out their individual labor activities. They teach German in schools, secondary and higher education institutions, work as translators for companies, banks and government agencies not only in Ukraine but also in many other countries.
During the transition processes from autumn 2014 to summer 2021, the duties of heads of departments were performed by Danzl L.S., Biletska O.V. and Chobotar O.V. Currently, Biletska Olena Vsevolodivna, Cand. Sc. (Philology), Associate Professor, has been elected Head of the Department.