Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU, is in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and University of Kharkiv. It is the largest national higher education institution in the country. It was started in 1834 by Nicholas I of Russia as the Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev; it has since changed its name several times. Kiev State University was one of the top-three universities in the USSR, along with Moscow State University and Leningrad State University. It is ranked as the best university in Ukraine in many rankings. Its alumni include Mykola Lysenko, Nikolay Bunge, Mykhailo Drahomanov, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Nikolai Berdyaev, Mikhail Bulgakov, Ivan Schmalhausen, Theodosius Dobzhansky, Viacheslav Chornovil, and Leonid Kravchuk. The university is named after Taras Shevchenko, who was banned from educational activities for political reasons, but worked for the university as a field researcher. References