New Academic Year at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Starts with Lectures from Renowned Speakers

We send greetings to the first-year class of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy! More than 1100 new students entered their university life and will study offline, meeting each other on campus. Every academic year at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy starts with lectures from renowned speakers to introduce the freshmen to the values of the KMA community.

This year's speakers were Dr. Serhii Plokhy, Director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, and Father Heorhiy Kovalenko, a Ukrainian Orthodox clergyman, founder, and chief editor of the online portal "Orthodoxy in Ukraine."

On September 1, Dr. Serhii Plokhy delivered his lecture on "The Fall of the Pan-Russian Utopia." It covered the fall of russian utopic idea of russification and the destruction of the Ukrainian people, which the struggle of the Ukrainian people against russia in this war caused.

The next day, on September 2, Father Heorhiy Kovalenko, a Ukrainian Orthodox clergyman, founder, and chief editor of the online portal "Orthodoxy in Ukraine," lectured on the moral compass, values of life, and responsibility before family and country. He also discussed with the students the meaning of the inscriptions, mosaics, and icons of St. Sophia's Cathedral as a temple of wisdom from the 11th century.

Father Heorhiy stated, "In Ukrainian culture, wisdom is not only associated with the mind. There is also the wisdom of things themselves. This wisdom of things is called Sophiology."

You can watch the full recordings of these lectures on Kyiv-Mohyla Academy's YouTube channel.

This annual tradition is a great event taking place on campus and uniting all the students and faculty members together. Among other speakers of the KMA inaugural lectures were Ukrainian poet Dmytro Pavlychko, literary critic and dissident Ivan Dziuba, former president of the European Council Herman Achille Van Rompuy, linguist and essayist Yurii Shevelov, and more. You can read the texts of these lectures in English on the Electronic Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Institutional Repository.\

Serhiy Kvit congratulated the new students and made a statement for them:

“Welcome to the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy! From this day on, you are the members of our great community, which began its path in 1615. Kyiv-Mohyla Academy is the oldest Ukrainian university with the richest traditions. I have two pieces of advice for you. Firstly, I urge you to spend your time at KMA wisely and responsibly. Time flies very fast, so approach to it practically. Make the most of what Kyiv-Mohyla Academy has to offer you. Secondly, cherish your student life. You will have friends, your fellow students, and student organizations. So take your leisure seriously as well; it's an important part of life. I welcome you to NaUKMA and wish you success! Be happy!”

Now, the students are focused on their studies. They come to the campus every day and Podil, where Kyiv-Mohyla Academy is located is finally full of life and inspiration. The next big event is the Annual Freshfest for new students, which will take place on September 16 where they will be able to get to know each other and a variety of student organizations.