History of the Department
of Public Administration and Entrepreneurship
of the Faculty of Software Engineering and Business
of the National Aerospace University
"Kharkiv Aviation Institute"

Department 601 traces its history from the day of the founding of KhAI (Order No. 1 dated June 1, 1930), Professor Dubinsky was appointed as its head..

Since June 30, 1931, the department has been divided into two:

- Department of Economics (head: Professor Dubinsky);

- Department of Dialectical Materialism (head: Associate Professor Sukhov).

Until 1940, the Department of Economics underwent several restructurings due to mergers and separations with other socio-economic departments.

In 1940, the combined department of economics and production organization was created (the head was professor Tiktyn) and it worked under this name until 1991. The heads of the department were: Professor Yakiv Neviazhskyi (1950 – 1953), Associate Professor Viktor Ivanov (1953 – 1966), Associate Professor Oleksandr Avramenko (1966 – 1974), Professor Mykola Berezyuk (1974 – 1977), Associate Professor Boris Khokhlov (1977 – 1979). Since 1979, the department has been headed by outstanding professors:

Professor Svyatoslav Nikitin (1979 – 1993);

Professor Anatoly Babushkin (1993 - 2007);

Professor Yakov Safronov (2007 - 2018). 

In 1991, the stage of independent existence and development of Ukraine began, the transition from the command-administrative planned management of economic activity to the creation of a market economy system.

In connection with this, in 1991, the "Faculty of Engineering and Management" was organized in the institute by order of the institute No. 48 of March 20.

In the same year, the Department of Economics and Production Organization became the core of the newly created faculty. According to the same order, the department was divided into two independent departments of the same composition:

- Department of Economics (No. 601), Head of Department Professor Nikitin;

- Department of Production Management (No. 602), head of the department is associate professor Pilshchikov.

In 1998, in order to ensure the unity of theoretical and applied training of specialists in economic disciplines, the Department of Economic Theory was merged with the Department of Economics, and later, in 2007, as a result of structural changes at the Faculty, Department 601 was renamed the Department of Economic Theory.

In 2018, the faculty received a new name - the Faculty of Software Engineering and Business, and the Department of Economic Theory was reorganized into a graduate department - the Department of Public Administration and Entrepreneurship. From September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2020, the department was headed by Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor Olena Zhikhor.

The staff of the Department of Public Administration and Entrepreneurship

Currently, Department 601 of Public Management and Entrepreneurship is a graduate department of the Faculty of Software Engineering and Business, which trains highly qualified specialists in fields of knowledge 281 "Public Management and Administration" (level of higher education: "Bachelor", "Master") and 076 "Entrepreneurship, Trade and exchange activity" (level of higher education: "bachelor's", "master's").

Currently, the department is headed by Doctor of Science in Public Administration, Professor Veronika Kovalchuk.

The department has created and constantly updates a comprehensive educational and methodological base that provides theoretical training, organization of independent, individual work of students, all types of practices, distance education. The teachers of the department actively use modern pedagogical technologies in the educational process, provide an analytical focus and constantly supplement practical and seminar classes with tasks of a problematic and situational nature and stimulate the active activity of students.

Scientists of the department carry out current scientific research in the following areas:

- "Economic-theoretical and socio-economic aspects of the economic mechanism" (0117U005478);

- "Theoretical, methodological and applied principles of the development of public administration in Ukraine."

Students take part in All-Ukrainian contests of student scientific works and Olympiads.

The scientific circle "Entrepreneurship or public administration" works at the department. How to choose your professional path".

Scientific and methodical seminars are held at the department, where directions for improving the scientific activity of the department, current issues of research development in the fields of public administration and entrepreneurship are considered.

The teachers of the department constantly improve their qualifications at the faculties of postgraduate education at leading higher educational institutions, at seminars, conferences and trainings.

The broad direction of the department's activities, the simultaneous combination of all forms of educational, practical and scientific work of students make it possible to ensure the continuity of the process of creative mastery by students of the entire complex of knowledge and skills necessary for solving real problems in the conditions of a transformational economy.