Everyone who has visited Ostroh Academy National University at least once in the past decade associates the revival of this famous university with the name of its rector Ihor Pasichnyk. Having undertaken the difficult mission to revive the first educational institution in all of Eastern Europe, over the past 15 years Dr. Pasichnyk has managed to turn a half-destroyed building into an up-to-date university and fill its life with modern content.
Meetings with well-known politicians, public figures, cultural activists take place at Ostroh Academy nearly every day. Some of the best-known scholars from Ukraine and abroad give lectures to the student body. The rector’s colleagues say that he is extraordinarily talented at finding fellow thinkers, advocates, and financial sponsors.
On the eve of Dr. Pasichnyk’s birthday, The Day sat down with him to ask a few questions.
How do you manage to combine your successful activities as rector of Ostroh Academy with your home life?
“First of all, I must thank you for calling me a ‘successful’ rector. But I consider myself simply a rector. Thank God that I can successfully combine my work life with my home life. I inherited the ruins of Ostroh Academy at a time when my family was already formed. My wife is a professor of mathematics, and my daughters are quite successful people: one of them is a pianist, and the other one is a world-famous opera singer. We see our children, and our grandchildren come to visit us every summer. My wife and I are trying to foster in our grandchildren those qualities that they need to bear our family name with dignity. We communicate with our children via e-mail and telephone many times a day.
“We are very involved in each other’s lives. We have been doing this since our children were small. They share their achievements as well as their troubles with us, and we tell them about our lives. We always rejoice over their achievements and our grandchildren’s successes. Nikolina, our eldest granddaughter, is not only a successful student, who knows many languages, but a successful singer as well. We are also pleased by our grandson’s achievements in poetry. I think he will become a worthy citizen.
“My children are successful and self-sufficient. Therefore, I don’t have any temptation to get at other people’s money; I don’t take bribes because I simply don’t need them. My wife and I earn a good living, and we can support ourselves through our own means. That is why as rector, I can conduct an independent policy. When Ostroh Academy was launched, nobody wanted to take this position. There were attempts to persuade many people to accept this post, but when they saw all those ruins, they didn’t want to stay. Our university received the status of national university in 2001, after starting its revival only in 1994.”
What’s next?
“Ostroh Academy has development plans for the nearest future and the long term. Everyone knows that our university is not an ordinary institution of higher learning but a unique cultural-educational center, the first institution of higher learning in all of Eastern Europe. All the groundbreaking achievements in Eastern Europe are linked to this university, for example, the Ostroh Bible, which is not only a masterpiece of printing but also a peerless work of scholarship, the famous Bukvar, and various philosophical and polemical works.
“Right now, Belarus, Russia, Lithuania, Poland, and to a smaller extent, unfortunately, Ukraine, are marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Vasyl-Kostiantyn Ostrozky, the founder of this higher educational institution, whose contribution to the development of the Ukrainian nation is as significant as that of Yaroslav the Wise.
“Ostroh Academy is reviving thanks to the greatness of our history and the greatness of our founders and graduating students. This history is preventing us from taking the wrong steps. During the 14 years of its existence Ostroh Academy has become a well-known educational institution in Ukraine. There is always stiff enrolment competition among our applicants, who come from every region of Ukraine and want to study at our university. We have close relations with academic institutions abroad, thanks to which our students can intern in Europe and North America. We also take part in international scholarly research and the work of various consortiums.
“As for Ostroh Academy’s development prospects, the revival of our university is giving Ukraine a unique opportunity to create a student city in Ostroh like the ones that exist around American or European universities. The very location of our university facilitates the creation of a unique micro- and macro-environment.
“This question was discussed during a meeting with President Yushchenko and another one, with the parliamentary speaker and other state officials, who support the idea of creating the first student city in Ostroh. In the short run we want to open another university building for the Faculty of Humanities. This will enable us to increase the number of specialties and to start teaching the exact sciences in the vacated labs. We are also planning to open a department of nuclear physics, which will enable us to train first-class employees for Ukraine’s atomic energy plants, as well as departments of applied mathematics and psychiatry. We also want to open a large sports complex; we dream of having our own swimming pool.
“Right now we are considering how to combine the entrance exams proposed by the Ministry of Education, i.e., a certificate selection system, with a designation of students’ creative skills in order to select those sudents who will satisfy the goals of Ostroh Academy’s mission. We have set ourselves a lofty aim: to form professionals as well as state builders with high moral qualities. We want our academy to enjoy the same popularity and renown that it had in the 15th and 16th centuries.”
In 2004 your academy supported the events that took place on the Maidan during the presidential election campaign. Can the changes that have been taking place in Ukraine in the past four years, primarily in the political sphere, be called democratic?
“I will give a short answer to this question. The period between the events of the Maidan until the present day gives rise to these kinds of reflections. Ukraine is such a democratic state, and this democracy has increased to such an extent, that today there is nostalgia for what is called ‘managed democracy.”
