Education-Scientific Institute of Agricultural Technologies and Environmental Management

The history of Vinnytsia National Agrarian University begins in October 1982 with the creation of the Vinnytsia branch of the Ukrainian Agricultural Academy on the basis of the Vinnytsia School of Advanced Training of Agricultural Workers.

The Faculty of Agronomy, from which the Educational and Scientific Institute was created, became an independent structural unit of the Faculty of Agriculture of the Ukrainian Agricultural Academy in May 1983 with a licensed intake of 50 students for full-time study. In the same year, the first intake of students for part-time study was held in the amount of 50 students.

Professor Mamalyha Vasyl Stepanovych, one of the founders of the creation and activity of the faculty from 1983 to 1991, was appointed the first dean of the faculty.

In 1991, the Faculty of Agronomy increased the licensed intake of students for full-time and part-time study to 100 students.

From 1992 to 2005 The Faculty of Agronomy was headed by Associate Professor Saulyak Petro Mykhailovych. According to the decision of the State Attestation Commission of June 9, 1999 (protocol No. 21), the specialty 1302 - "Agronomy" was recognized as accredited with the status of a higher agricultural educational institution of the IV level of accreditation.

In 2003, the faculty licensed the specialty 6.070800 "Ecology and Environmental Protection" with a licensed intake of 50 people.

Since May 2005, the Faculty of Agronomy has been headed by a former graduate, Associate Professor Mazur Viktor Anatoliyovych. Since then, the faculty has reached new heights.

In 2010, the specialty "Forestry and Horticulture" and the specialization "Fruit and Vegetable Growing and Viticulture" were opened.

Since 2011 The faculty offers postgraduate studies in the specialty 03.00.16 - ecology.

In 2012, the Agronomic Research Farm "Agronomic" was included in the Faculty of Agriculture, on the basis of which students have the opportunity to undergo educational and industrial practice, to establish and conduct scientific research on the topics of diploma theses, postgraduate students and teachers establish experiments for dissertations.

In 2012, the interfaculty specialty "Environmental Policy and Law" was opened. From the same year, lectures on certain disciplines in English began for students of the Faculty of Agriculture, which allows them to quickly adapt to the conditions of practice abroad, as well as to subsequently find employment in institutions and organizations where knowledge of a foreign language is required for specialists.

In 2013, the educational, scientific and industrial complex "All-Ukrainian Scientific and Educational Consortium" was established. The founders of the consortium are Vinnytsia National Agrarian University and the Institute of Bioenergy Crops and Sugar Beet of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine with their research, research and breeding farms and structural divisions.

During 2013-2014, the faculty was successfully re-accredited for the possibility of training specialists of educational and qualification levels "bachelor", "specialist" and "master" in the areas of "Agronomy", "Ecology, environmental protection and balanced nature management", "Forestry and horticulture".

Since 2014, a certified Scientific and Measuring Agrochemical Laboratory has been operating at the Faculty of Agronomy, which carries out laboratory analyses of the quality of soil, water, grain and other products. This has significantly increased the level of students' diploma theses, as well as the scientific quality of postgraduate dissertations.

In 2015, the Faculty of Agronomy was headed by a graduate of the faculty, associate professor of the Department of Soil Science, Agriculture and Agrochemistry, candidate of agricultural sciences Didur Igor Mykolayovych.

In 2019, taking into account the significant expansion of specialties in which specialists are trained at the faculty, the Faculty of Agronomy was renamed the Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry.

In 2023, according to the order of the rector of Vinnytsia National Agrarian University No. 174 dated September 11, 2023, the Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry was reorganized and the Educational and Scientific Institute of Agrotechnology and Environmental Management was created, which includes two faculties: the Faculty of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Protection and the Faculty of Ecology, Forestry and Gardening.

The following departments are included in the Faculty of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Protection: Department of Plant Growing and Horticulture, Department of Agriculture, Soil Science and Agrochemistry, and Department of Botany, Genetics and Plant Protection.

The Faculty of Ecology, Forestry and Horticulture includes the following departments: Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Department of Forestry and Horticulture, and Department of Geoinformatics, Land Management and Land Cadastre.

A scientific and measuring ecological and agrochemical laboratory operates on the basis of the educational and scientific institute, in which higher education students and postgraduate students conduct laboratory research. In addition, higher education students of all specialties have the opportunity to establish field research on the basis of the Botanical Garden "Podillia" and the educational and research field in the scientific and research farm "Agronomichne".

Partnerships in the direction of transformation and modernization of educational programs, as well as improvement of production internships of students at enterprises of the real agricultural sector have been established with stakeholders of the faculties of the institute. The heads of advanced agricultural enterprises of Vinnytsia region: LLC "Organic - D" - director of the enterprise Vadym KRYCHKOVSKYY, FG "Vrozhayne" - head of the enterprise Anatoliy DIDYK; FG "Flora A.A." - head of the enterprise Andriy KAPRITSA, LLC "Makosh Mineral" - director Viktor POLISHCHUK, LLC "Podilska Sich" - director Mykola PIDLISNYY, who are graduates of the faculty in the past. In today's highly competitive conditions, active cooperation is being conducted with all of them for the unification of educational programs and future employment of graduates of the institute.

The bases of the practices of the educational and scientific institute are research institutions of the All-Ukrainian Scientific and Educational Consortium, namely the Uladovo-Lyulynetsk Research and Breeding Station of the Institute of Bioenergy Crops and Sugar Beet of the NAAS of Ukraine, the Podilsk Research Station of the Institute of Horticulture of the NAAS of Ukraine, advanced agricultural enterprises that apply modern technologies for growing agricultural crops: Syngenta LLC, Ukraflora-Vinnytsia LLC, PRaT DASHKIVTSI, Agrofirma Napadivska, Agrofirma Obodivska LLC, FG Zorya Vasylivky and others.

Hundreds of former graduates head advanced farming and agricultural enterprises in Ukraine. The honorary list of graduates includes Yuriy BRANITSKY, director of the Uladovo-Lyulynetsk Research and Breeding Station of the Institute of Bioenergy Crops and Sugar Beet of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine; Pavlo MATERYNSKY, technical specialist for grain crops and pesticides of BASF in Ukraine and the Caucasus; Alla SMIRNOVA, director of the Amitis Garden and Landscape Center; Voldemar MOSTOVENKO, head of the research and development department of Servisagrotech LLC (Kusto Agro); Yuriy KATERYNCHAK, head of the Forestry Department of Vinnytsia Transport College; and many others. Confirmation of the institute's prestige is the fact that some of the graduates continue their studies in graduate school and remain working at the university. Thus, over the years of the university's operation, about 90% of former students have worked as teachers. Today they are the hallmark of Vinnytsia National Agrarian University.

The educational and scientific institute is fully staffed with scientific and pedagogical staff. The educational process for students of the faculties is provided by 51 scientific and pedagogical workers of 6 departments, including 5 doctors of sciences, 4 professors, 32 candidates of sciences, 23 associate professors. All departments of the educational and scientific institute are headed by specialists with the corresponding academic degrees and titles, who are 100% graduates of the faculty in different years.

The following scientific circles operate on the basis of the educational and scientific institute: "Zemlerob" - head: Lyudmila PELEKH, "Gruntoznavets" - head: Mykhailo POLISHCHUK, "Landscaping" - head: Hanna PANTSYREVA, "Agronomist-researcher" - head: Oleksandr MAZUR, "Plant Protection" - head: Pavlo VERHELES, Ecobend - head: Oleksandr TKACHUK.

The National Institute of Agricultural Technologies and Environmental Management maintains extensive international relations with universities in Europe. For example, Associate Professor Olga Macera completed a Postdoc internship for 1 year and 3 months at the Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra. Thanks to the President of the National Agricultural University of Nitra, Hryhoriy Kaletnik, and the Vice-Rector for Scientific, Pedagogical and Educational Work, Svitlana Lutkovsky, the director of the institute, Igor DIDUR, associate professors Olena TSYGANSKA and Inna PALAMARCHUK, together with students from both faculties, took part in the international summer school at the University of Weihenstephan-Triesdorf in Germany.

In addition, the main direction of the institute’s activities is the implementation of state topics financed by the state budget. Thus, the synergy of science and production is widely implemented by the leading researchers of the institute - Viktor MAZUR, Igor DIDUR, Oleksandr TKACHUK, Vitaliy PALAMARCHUK, Hanna PANTSYREVA.

Young scientists of the NNI are scholarship holders of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, laureates of the academic scholarship named after the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred. Thus, the laurels of success were awarded to Associate Professor Hanna PANTSYREVA, who also received the honorary title of "Young Scientist of the Year".

The teaching staff is involved in the examination of scientific projects at the Ministry of Education and Science. In particular, 24 NPP of the institute take an active part in the examination of scientific implementations of higher education institutions of Ukraine. The total fund of scientific publications over the past three years is over 60 monographs; about 60 articles indexed in the scientometric databases Scopus/Web of Science; about 300 professional articles.

To ensure high quality training of specialists in educational and professional programs and to establish close interaction between education and the labor market, the Educational and Scientific Institute of Agrotechnology and Environmental Management has created a council of stakeholders of educational programs, which is an advisory body on issues of training specialists. Graduates of the Educational and Scientific Institute, upon completion of their studies, can hold managerial positions in state authorities of various levels, work as managers of agricultural, processing, private and other enterprises, continue their studies in postgraduate studies and, upon completion and defense of their dissertation, teach at higher education institutions of Ukraine or work as researchers at scientific institutions.