Chernivtsi University

In 1866, the Austrian Empire had lost the war against Prussia ending the German Confederation, which was followed by the establishment of the German Empire in 1871. In turn, Habsburg emperor Francis Joseph I turned his attention to his eastern crown lands. Plans for a Germanophone university were modelled on the establishment in 1872 of the University of Straßburg Kaiser-Wilhelms-Universität, named after German Emperor William I, in annexed Alsace-Lorraine.

After Lviv University had declared Polish a teaching language in 1871, a Bukovina committee led by the ethnically Romanian^[3][4] jurist and liberal politician Constantin Tomashchuk (1840–1889), a member of the Imperial Council, called for the foundation of a German college in multilingual Czernowitz about 740 kilometres (460 mi) "beyond" Vienna. In 1874 they addressed a petition to the Austrian minister of education Karl von Stremayr, on whose proposal Emperor Francis Joseph finally resolved upon the establishment of a university, which was decided on by the two houses of the Imperial Council on 13 and 20 March 1875. Other cities applying for the creation of a college, such as Trieste, Olomouc, Brno, Ljubljana or Salzburg, were unsuccessful.

One hundred years after the affiliation of Bukovina to the Austrian monarchy, the Franz-Josephs-Universität was inaugurated on 4 October 1875 (the name day of the emperor) on the basis of the Czernowitz Higher Theological School. Constantin Tomashchuk was appointed its first rector. The ensemble of the Residence, combining elements of national, Byzantine, Gothic and Baroque architecture, is an outstanding example of 19th-century historicist architecture, design and planning, expressing the cultural identity of the Orthodox Church within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.^[5]

Originally, the main language of instruction was German with separate departments for Ukrainian and Romanian and literature. German was the primary language even though the region it was located in, Bukovina, was not German-speaking, and a few other Austro-Hungarian universities outside of German-speaking areas were shifting away from German-medium teaching.^[6] The Emperor saw instruction in German as a means to enable any subject to progress anywhere in the Monarchy or elsewhere in Europe, where German was then the most-spoken language. During the period of Austro-Hungarian rule, the university operated three faculties: Greek Orthodox theology (the only one in Central Europe), jurisprudence and philosophy. To pursue the study of medicine, the Bukovina graduates still had to go to Lviv or to the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

Though the general language of instruction was German, professorships on Romanian and Ruthenian language were also established. At the time of Austro-Hungarian rule, the majority of the university's students were Jewish and German Austrians, while Ukrainians and Romanians comprised about 20%–25% of the student body. At times, there were more than 40 German, Ukrainian, Romanian, Polish, Jewish, and Catholic fraternities (Studentenverbindungen) in the city, reflecting its linguistic and religious diversity.

In World War I, Czernowitz on the Eastern Front was the scene of battle between Austro-Hungarian and Imperial Russian forces, in which the university was severely affected. Nevertheless, plans for a relocation to Salzburg in the west met with protests from academics such as Eugen Ehrlich and Joseph Schumpeter. In June 1918 teaching activities were resumed after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Soviet Russia.

After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918, Bukovina became part of the Kingdom of Romania and the university was renamed Universitatea Regele Carol I din Cernăuți. From 1919 to 1940 the university was largely Romanized; the Ukrainian department was abolished, Ukrainian professors were dismissed and instruction was fully switched to Romanian. In 1933, of 3,247 students, there were 2,117 Romanians, 679 Jews, 199 Germans, 155 Ukrainians (decreasing from 239 out of 1671 students in 1920), 57 Poles, 26 Russians and 4 of other nationalities. Ion Nistor, a prominent Romanian historian and one of the most vocal proponents of Greater Romanian nationalism, was the university's rector for many years.

In 1940 due to Soviet occupation of northern Bukovina, the territory of Northern Bukovina became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republics new Chernivtsi Oblast, and the primary language in the university became Ukrainian. At that time the original carved wooden ceiling of the Synod Hall was lost to fire and was replaced only in the 1950s.^[7] The roof has been gradually replaced using quality colour-glazed roof tiles manufactured according to the original patterns and imported from Austria. The change of function of the ensemble, initially being the Residence of Metropolitans and becoming a university did not unduly affect its authenticity.

The university, renamed Chernivtsi State University, was significantly expanded and reorganized, with new buildings in other parts of Chernivtsi being allocated for use of university. In 1976–1977, the university had 10,000 students and about 500 teachers, 26 specialists and doctors of sciences, about 290 associate professors and candidates of sciences. Teaching of science was greatly increased and the theological department was dissolved and then reopened in 1996. In the Soviet period, the number of Romanian students at the university declined sharply. In 1991–92, the last year of Soviet rule, the number of Romanian students was only 4.44% (434 out of 9,769).^[8] Of the academic staff, the breakdown by nationality is: Ukrainians 465 (77.1%), Russians 102 (16.9%), Moldovans 9 (1.4%) and Romanians 7 (1.1%), Belarusians 6 (0.9%).

Since 1989, it operates under its current name, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, being named after Ukrainian writer, poet, translator and folklorist Yuriy Fedkovych, a herald of Ukrainian national Renaissance.

After the fall of Soviet Union, University began to enter international stage of education and research, with one of the first steps being accepted as a member of International Universities Organization "Phi Beta Delta"^[9] in October 1999. It was subsequently given a status of National University on September 11, 2000, by a presidents decree.^[10]

By decision of Session of Council of European University Association, held in Brussels on 15 January 2009, Yuriy Fedkovich Chernivtsi National University was granted a full individual membership in European University Association.^[11] On June 29, 2011, the 35th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to include the central building of the university - the former residence of the Metropolitan of Bukovina and Dalmatia, on the World Heritage List.^[12][13]

On October 4, 2015, on the day of the 140th anniversary of the founding, university restored the monument to the first rector of the university, deputy of the Austrian Parliament and the Regional Diet, Honorary Citizen of Chernivtsi Kostyantyn Tomashchuk,^[14] in the place it was originally created in 1897 ^[15]

In 2016, according to the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Bukovina State Financial and Economic University was affiliated to Chernivtsi National University.^[16]

As of April 2019, the rector of Chernivtsi National University is Professor Petryshyn Roman Ivanovich, PhD in Physical and Mathematical Sciences.^[17]

As of April 2019, the Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University is ranked third in the ranking of Ukrainian higher education institutions by the Scopus scientometric database, which provides records of scientists' publications, institutions and statistics of their citation.^[18]