The history of Francisk Skorina Gomel State University begun in 1929, when the Central Exective Committee of the BSSR decided to establish The Agricultural Pedagogic Institute in Gomel. Carrying out this decision, on May 7, 1930 The Board of The National Commissariat of Education of The BSSR made a decision on profiling The Gomel Institute in three branches - history and social studies, philology and linguistics, and exact sciences and technology. Before the year of 1933 the institute provided the training of school teachers with biennial curriculum. In 1933 it was reorganized into a pedagogical institute with the three-year curriculum. A year later the institute was reorganized into a higher educational establishment with a four-year program of training, providing the training of teachers of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Natural Studies. On March 5, 1939 by The Decree of The Presidium of The Supreme Body of The BSSR the institute was given the name of the famous pilot V.P.Tchkalov.
For years of its activities the institute trained about 13000 highly qualified specialists for various fields of national economy, significant results were achieved in scientific sphere. Decision ¹93 of March 14, 1969 of The Central Committee of The CPB and The Board of Ministers of The BSSR highly praised the work of the institution staff and reorganized The Gomel Pedagogical Institute into The Gomel State University - the second higher educational institution of the kind in Belarus.
For great results in studying and scientific research of the cultural heritage of the Byelorussian people, cultural and educational activities of the greatest humanist of the Renaissance, the East-Slavonic and Byelorussian first printer Francisk Skorina the university was given his name on November 29, 1988 by the Board of Ministers of The BSSR.
Today "Francisk Skorina Gomel State University" is the largest research and educational center, recognized by native and world scientific communities. The oldest higher educational establishment of the region has become the real intellectual and cultural center of the Byelorussian Polessye.
The scientific potential of "Francisk Skorina Gomel State University" is quite remarkable. The total staff is 1470 people, including 640 teachers and professors (without part-time employees). There are 40 Doctors, 29 Professors, 222 Candidates of Sciences, and 190 Senior Lecturers. There are four corresponding members of the National Academy of Sciences (L.A.Shemetkov, A.N.Serdjukov, G.G.Goncharenko, V.F.Baginsky).
The Post Graduate Courses (56 specialties) and Doctorate (5 specialties) are considered to be the reserve of scientific and teaching staff. The magistracy was established in 2004. There are 4 boards for defending Doctor's and Candidate's theses in 6 specialties. In 2006 1 doctor's and 18 master's theses were defended by the employees and post-graduate students of the university.
The basic forms of scientific activities of "Francisk Skorina Gomel State University" are: carrying out of fundamental, applied and contractual research works; organization and holding of scientific conferences and seminars; professional training of specialists of the highest scientific qualifications; organization and management of students' scientific research; exhibition and information work of presentation of results of scientific research in mass media; invention and efficiency work; scientific literature publishing (publishing of monographies, articles, theses, magazines, collections of works).
The university conducts fundamental, survey and applied research in 15 basic fields approved on February 03, 2006 by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, which correspond to the description of the graduates and are based on the List of Priorites Directions of Fundamental and Applied Scientific Researches of the Republic of Belarus for 2006-2010, approved by Decision 512 of May 17, 2005 by the Board of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus.
The university includes two research institutes, 17 research laboratories, engaged in scientific research in various fields of science. By the decision of the University Board (December 28, 2006) the research laboratory of high energy physics was given the status of a joint laboratory (together with the laboratory of fundamental interactions of the National Center of Science-Educational Physics of Particles and High Energy of the Byelorussian State University).
The productivity of scientific researches of the university is kept at a high level. In 2006 the following editions were published: 19 monographies, 14 textbooks with the stamp of the Ministry of Education and other departments, 145 training-methodical textbooks without the stamp, 19 collections of proceedings, including 7 issue of the magazine "The news of Francisk Skorina Gomel State University", 875 articles in magazines and collections of proceedings (13 of them - published abroad).
In 2006 the results of 6 developments of the university were used in production and 25 - in the educational process; 19 patents and 7 decisions for security documents issuing (5 invention patents, 1 - on useful models of The Republic of Belarus, 1 - on useful models of the Russian Federation), 43 projects of the university were shown at 19 various exhibitions in Belarus, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Turkey, China, Egypt, Bahrain.
The basic conceptual position, by which the scientific staff of the university is guided in the development of scientific activities, is the integration of higher education and fundamental science. Therefore the development of close cooperation of the university with scientific organizations of The National Academy of Science of Belarus is very important. An original parameter of fruitfulness of such cooperation is participation in carrying out tasks of The State Programs for Fundamental Research (SPFR), The State Programs for Oriented Fundamental Research (SPOFR), The State Programs for Applied Research (SPAR), the head organizations and executors are the scientific organizations of The National Academy of Science of Belarus. In 2006 the university carried out 47 tasks of SPFR, SPOFR and SPAR. The general contract about creative cooperation between GSU and The National Academy of Science has been in action since 1999. It provides the development of various forms of joint activities, students' involvement in research work, the use of academic workers' potential in teaching, activities on use and strengthening of material base of scientific and educational process in Francisk Skorina Gomel State University and other problems. The contract envisages the opportunity to create scientific divisions of double subordination on the basis of departments and laboratories of the university. Having taken this advantage, the laboratory of double subordination "Ecological Geophysics" was opened at The Faculty of Geology and Geography in 2003 (Francisk Skorina Gomel State University and The Center of Geophysics Monitoring of The National Academy of Science of Belarus). The laboratory carries out fundamental and applied research in cooperation with the Gomel Department of The Center in such directions as monitoring of ecological condition of the geological environment of Gomel; studying and control of negative geological processes accompanying the development of oil deposits in the territory of the Pripjatj oil-and-gas basin; geodynamic monitoring of the territory where the most important objects are situated; the organization of the geology-geographical data bank, maintenance of inter-regional and international information exchange.
Great attention is given to applied developments. In 2006 the university was the executor of 2 tasks of the State Scientific and Technical Programs (SSTP), 3 projects of the Executive Program of the Byelorussian-Ukrainian scientific and technical cooperation, one innovative project, and also 15 economy-contract themes on request of enterprises and organizations of the Republic of Belarus and neighboring countries (e.g. Ukraine).
The research carried out by the employees of the Scientific Research Institute of Ecology is of practical importance: the estimation of operational stocks, the forecast of ground waters quality at water-fences of Gomel; the development of synthesis methods and studying of ion-exchange properties of new forms of chemicals for radium-cesium ligaments; studying of migration mechanisms of long-living radionuclides and heavy metals, and research on natural brines and their use in agriculture.
Close cooperation with The National Academy of Science of Belarus, scientific activities orientation to the country's priority directions promote the formation of scientific personnel with features and attributes of scientific and pedagogical schools. There are 14 of them at the university.
The leading role of Francisk Skorina Gomel State University in the development of scientific research can be expressed in organization and carrying out of the international, republican and regional scientific conferences. In 2006 the university initiated and organized 32 scientific conferences, including 13 students' conferences. The staff of the university took part in more than 200 conferences held in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Finland, and Slovenia.
The international cooperation of the educational establishment "Francisk Skorina Gomel State University" includes the development of contacts and conclusions of contracts with foreign partners, realization of joint projects and programs, participation in international conferences, organization and carrying out of the international activities with participation of experts from foreign countries.
The conclusion of international contracts of cooperation and control of their fulfillment is a priority direction of the international activities of the university. In 2006 49 contracts were active (24 contracts with the far-away countries and 25 contracts with the neighboring countries).
All the agreements were concluded on the non-currency basis and provide mutual aid in scientific research and experts' training, students' and scientific information exchange.
One of the positive examples of strengthening and development of the international links is the functioning of French-Byelorussian Institute of Management (opened in 1995), and the participation of the university in the project "The Union University of Integration" (the training of specialists for the Union State is carried out in cooperation with leading higher educational establishments of Russia).
Since 2006 the university has been a member of the international organization "Inter-Academy" which joins European high schools and universities of Japan.
Special attention in the international activities is given to the training of foreign citizens.
Training of foreign specialists at Francisk Skorina Gomel State University started in 1985. The first foreign students who arrived to study at the Faculty of Mathematics were 4 citizens of Benin. The representatives of 42 countries got their education at the university: Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Ethiopia, Guinea, Algeria, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Angola, Congo, Madagascar, Morocco, Tanzania, Costa Rica and other countries. Since1992 the training of citizens of the Peoples Republic of China has been carried out at the university.
At present 125 citizens from far-away and neighboring countries are trained at the university (citizens of China, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt, Yemen, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkmenistan).
In April, 2004 the center of the Polish language was opened at the Faculty of Philology. It is equipped with audiovisual and office facilities and staffed with the special literature purchased with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Republic of Belarus. Annually the best students of the Faculty of Philology go to Poland for a month's language training (all the expense are taken by the Polish side).
In 2006 the republican forum of specialists in Russian philology was held in GSU for the first time. It was organized by the Ministry of Education of Belarus, the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Belarus and the Byelorussian State University. The forum became the starting point in the number of activities planned by Embassy of Russia in the context of the Year of the Russian Language declared in Russia in 2007. As a result of this forum the regional center of Russian philology was created at the Faculty of Philology with the support of the Embassy of Russia.
The desire to study profoundly and preserve the distinctive character and originality of the Slavic culture for the future generations, to bring the mite in a spiritual unification of brotherly Slavic people -Russian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian - has induced scientists of Francisk Skorina Gomel State University to propound the creation of the International association " The Institute of The Slavic Philology " as a means of cooperation of higher educational establishments and scientific institutes of the neighboring states - Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The urgency and necessity of creation of such an association is firstly caused by the unique material and spiritual culture of this east Slavic region which has not been studied to a full extent; secondly, many ethno cultural elements - historical monuments, products of traditional national crafts, arts, ceremonies and customs, products of oral folk art, dialect names are disappearing because of the migration of a significant amount of inhabitants from the Chernobyl zone of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia; and thirdly, values of folk material culture are constantly being lost as a result of time destructions and the change of generations as the young underestimate the spiritual heritage and national traditions to a full extent.
The doors are wide open for the establishment of contacts with those who would like to get higher education at our educational institution.
Address:
Educational Establishment "Francisk Skorina Gomel State University"
Sovetskaya str., 104,
Gomel, 246019,
Republic of Belarus
Telephones: + 375 (232) 60-31-13, + 375 (232) 60-73-71
Fax: + 375 (232) 57-81-11.
