History of the Faculty of Social Sciences
The Faculty of Social Sciences was established after the separation of the Faculty of Law from the Faculty of Humanities and Law in August 2016. The Dean of the Faculty was elected through a competition by the Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, Associate Professor Gaivoronska Taisiya Oleksiivna, who was the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Law before its separation.
The structure of the Faculty of Social Sciences includes 3 graduate departments:
Department of Psychology (acting head – Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor Koval Vladislav Oleksandrovych);
Department of Social Work (acting head – Candidate of Sociological Sciences, Associate Professor Shcherbyna Serhiy Stepanovych);
Department of Journalism (head – Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor Pogrebna Viktoriia Leonidovna).
The faculty employs highly qualified specialists with many years of scientific and pedagogical experience, including 4 doctors of sciences, professors, 20 candidates of sciences, associate professors. Faculty teachers constantly improve their professional level and skills by undergoing internships in higher educational institutions of Ukraine and abroad, as evidenced by the relevant diplomas and certificates. The departments of the faculty conduct research work, the results of which are the publication of monographs, scientific articles in domestic professional and foreign publications, scientific and methodological literature, and the defense of dissertations. Over the 10 years of the existence of the departments of the faculty as part of the Institute of Management and Law of ZNTU, teachers have defended 4 doctoral and 8 candidate dissertations.
The main goal of the faculty is to combine humanitarian education with high-quality professional training, the implementation of a dual system of specialist training, which combines theoretical training with practical training. The faculty staff directs its activities to the search and development of new forms, methods and means of training to ensure the conditions for the training of highly professional, competitive specialists capable of actively operating in a market economy and social partnership.
The Department of Psychology trains psychologists with the educational degree of “bachelor” and “master”. The diploma of a psychologist enables graduates of the faculty to work as a psychologist in the social sphere, centers of socio-psychological rehabilitation, private centers, to provide psychological support in educational institutions, children’s centers, the sphere of medium and large business, state and political structures. Graduates also have the opportunity to occupy prestigious positions in personnel departments, marketing departments at enterprises, in personnel and advertising agencies, consulting companies.
The Department of Social Work trains bachelors and masters in the specialty “Social Work”, as well as masters in the specialty “Social Security”. Since 2017, the department will train bachelors and masters in the specialty “Sociology”. Graduates of the faculty in these specialties will be able to work in state administration and local government bodies, analytical and advisory centers, sociological services, marketing departments of enterprises of various forms of ownership, private firms, advertising agencies, mass media, employment centers, higher and secondary specialized educational institutions. In 2016, the Department of Social Work opened a postgraduate program in the specialty “Social Work”.
The Department of Journalism trains bachelors and masters in the relevant specialty. The diploma received by graduates provides an opportunity for employment in the mass media, press services, public relations departments, publishing houses, advertising agencies. Graduates with a master’s degree have the opportunity to work as a lecturer in the journalism specialty at universities and other higher educational institutions. The lecturers of the Department of Journalism actively cooperate with the media, in particular with the television channels “ALEX”, “TV-5”, “Zaporizhzhia”, as well as with the editorial offices of Zaporizhzhia newspapers. Practical disciplines related to journalistic skills are taught by practicing journalists of regional mass media, members of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. The educational student newspaper “StudPol” is published by students and lecturers of the Department of Journalism. Three students and an associate professor of the Department of Journalism (Pashnyk O.V.) from August 2007 to May 2009 underwent internships at the Technical University (Department of Music and Media) in Luleå (Sweden).
The lecturers of the departments, together with the students of their specialties, annually hold events dedicated to professional holidays: Psychologist’s Day, Journalist’s Day, Social Worker’s Day. The departments of the faculty hold scientific and practical conferences, in which specialists from Zaporizhia and other cities of Ukraine and abroad participate. In May 2013, the Department of Social Work, together with the ZNTU administration, held the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Problems of Aging: European Approaches”. Since 2009, the Department of Psychology has annually held the student scientific and practical conference “Modern Directions of Practical Psychology” together with the departments of psychology of ZNU and KPU and the Center for Practical Psychology and Social Work of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Every year, students of the Faculty of Social Sciences participate in the All-Ukrainian Competition of Student Scientific Papers, Olympiads, and Science Weeks. Among the students of the faculty are winners of competitions of various levels. Students of the faculty take an active part in the student life of the university and various cultural and intellectual events of the city, are actively engaged in volunteer work, and participate in work with socially vulnerable segments of the population.
All specialties of the Faculty of Social Sciences are relevant in the modern world, and the knowledge gained by its graduates will become the basis for the professional growth of a specialist and the self-realization of an individual.
