The Department staff consists of 10 full-time employees: 5 of them have PhD research degrees (2 associate professors and 3 senior teachers of the Department), 2 of them are senior teachers without a research degree, 3 staff members are lecturers of the Department).

The priority tasks for the staff of the Department are to improve the quality of teaching foreign languages in accordance with international standards and active use of the latest methods and information technologies in the educational process.

During 2015-2019 teaching staff of the Department participated in a joint project of the British Council Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine – “English for Universities Project” improving their professional skills through training in workshops and sessions in the framework of the Project, namely:

ATE – Academic Teaching Excellence (improving skills and abilities of delivering lectures and practical classes in professional subjects);

EAP – English for Academic Purposes (improving skills and abilities of teaching English for academics to master and postgraduate students);

CiVELT – improving skills and abilities of teaching English for Specific Purposes;

ESP Module Design – improving skills for composing syllabi in English for Specific Purposes;

English for Academics – improving skills and abilities to write scientific papers, annotations as well as developing thematic presentations).

As a result, with more than 30 higher education institutions of Ukraine involved, a new four-module standardized syllabus in English for Specific Purposes was developed for students of non-linguistic specialisms.

Since March 2020 the Department staff have been actively participating in the joint working group represented by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the British Council Ukraine and ESP teachers from more than 20 Ukraine’s HEIs in the framework of the “Policy for English Project”. During the period of the group’s work the methodological recommendations draft for the Ukrainian HEIs on implementing the “Conceptual Principles of State Policy for the Development of the English Language in Higher Education” developed by the British Council Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science in July 2019 were elaborated.

The methodological recommendations draft consists of three parts: 1) recommendations for the Conceptual Principles implementation – relevant for rectors of the Ukrainian HEIs; 2) recommendations for the Conceptual Principles implementation – relevant for EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) lecturers, teachers of specialism departments who deliver their classes in English; 3) recommendations for the Conceptual Principles implementation – relevant for teachers of English for Specific Purposes departments of the Ukrainian HEIs.

Since September 2020 the teaching staff of the Department have been cooperating with the colleagues from Law Faculty of Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University in the framework of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) New Justice Program, 2020-2021. The Project aims at preparing a new joint syllabus in Legal English for the first and second year bachelor students majoring in Law.

Since April 2020 the Department staff have been co-organizing the All-Ukrainian Online Olympiad in English for students majoring in Computer Science, held on the basis of National Technical University of Ukraine “Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” (Department of English for Humanities), Vasyl’ Stus DonNU (Department of Foreign Languages for Specific Purposes) and Yurii Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University (Department of Foreign Languages for Natural Sciences).

In March 2020 the second stage of the All-Ukrainian Student Olympiad in English for higher education institutions of Ukraine with English as a non-specialism discipline was hosted at the Department. Since 2017 teachers of the Department have been actively cooperating with the staff of “Window on America” Center on the basis of K.A. Timiriazev Vinnytsia Regional Library. During the cooperation period more than 30 English-language educational events have been organized and held for students of Vasyl’ Stus DonNU non-linguistic faculties.

Much attention is devoted to methodological and research work. Since 2016 the Department staff have been organizing and hosting the annual International Scientific Conference for Bachelor, Master, Postgraduate Students and Young Researchers “Topical Issues of Humanities, Technical and Natural Sciences”. It is mandatory for all the participants to use only English during plenary sessions and breakout section discussions.

In order to raise their methodological level the Department staff members regularly hold methodological seminars dedicated to the most pressing issues of teaching foreign languages to students of the University’s non-linguistic faculties.

History of the Department

The Chair of Foreign Languages for Professional Purposes continues educational and scientific traditions of the two previous foreign language chairs merged when Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University moved to Vinnytsia. The merger took place between the Chair of English for natural sciences and humanities and Chair of English for economics to preserve and improve the quality of training.