Dnipro Polytechnic

The foundation ceremony of Ekaterinoslav's Higher Mining Technical School (EHMTS) was conducted on October 12, 1899, and in April of the next year construction of the institution's new educational buildings began. To begin with the Higher Mining Technical School had only two departments, those of mining and factory-production, but their academic curricula differed only very slightly (the main difference between the two faculties was to be found in the number of taught hours conducted for students).

The Higher Mining Technical School was founded during the reign of Nicholas II.

The curriculum according to the “Regulation for the EHMTS” foresaw an initial total of 23 taught disciplines: theology, higher mathematics, analytical mechanics, construction mechanics, applied mechanics, mine-factory mechanics, physics, chemistry, electrical mechanics, mineralogy, geology and deposit science, geodesy, mining art, ore and coal dressing, surveying, metallurgy, technology of metals, design and geometric design, accounting and mine-factory economy, technical translation from German and French and first aid at accidents. The provision of training was undertaken by a total of 13 full-time employed teachers.

Construction of the Mining Institute in the late 1890s.

From the date of its founding the university was equipped with a two department library, a mineralogical museum, chemical, mechanical and probe laboratories, and offices for each discipline. Nevertheless, the Technical School had a lot of problems for a long time. Ten years after EHMTS establishment there were only 9 teachers, and the stable cadre was constantly decreasing. This made the issue of equalising the Technical School's rights with other higher educational institutions more urgent, and thus eventually the school was turned into the Ekaterinoslav Mining Institute. On June 19, 1912 the State Legislative body adopted a resolution on restructuring the EHMTS into a fully equipped Mining Institute. Since July 1 a number of outstanding scientists, mainly graduates from Saint-Petersburg Mining Institute, then joined the institute.

The institute became well known for its many publications in scientific periodicals. The EHMTS edited and produced the “News of Ekaterinoslav Higher Mining Technical School” since 1905 and up until 1917 the school published 23 collections of “News”, in which around 500 scientific works were published (including monographs and study books).

In 1918 the Mining Institute opened two new departments: surveying (closed in 1921) and Geological Prospecting, and obtained the right to award scientific degrees through public defence of a scientific dissertation. Later, in 1921 the Mechanical Faculty was created with two departments, those of Mining-Factory and Electrical Engineering. The implementation of new specialties was from then on dictated by industrial development. Finally a distance learning faculty was opened.

The model of breast badge awarded to graduates of the Mining Institute (and other engineering universities) during the Soviet era.

In 1930 the Mining Institute began training specialists only for the mining industry and geological prospecting works, and in 1932 a number of new faculties were established in place of the departments: Mining, Electrical Engineering, Geological-Surveying. In the 20s and 30s the process of forming scientific schools was continued, and therefore during the late 1930s the Mining Institute lost a significant part of its staff (about 30 persons, among which there were a number of outstanding professors),however, the institution withstood these losses and kept preparing highly professional specialists for industry and science.

As a result of the Second World War in 1941–1945 about 300 teachers, staff members and students left for the front within the first few days of hostilities commencing. The institute evacuated to Sverdlovsk and Karaganda, to where a significant part of its equipment was brought and where its faculty began to work alongside the scientific staff of the Sverdlovsk Mining Institute and the Filial of Moscow Mining Institute, which by that time had come to Karaganda too. A great number of the Mining Institute's staff occupied engineering positions at mining enterprises of the Urals and Soviet Republics of Middle Asia, working for victory over Nazi Germany.

The remains of the Mining Institute, which was burnt-out by German forces during the Second World War.

The Institute finally resumed its teaching activities in 1943, first in Karaganda, and later in Dnipropetrovsk. However, after the German invasion of the USSR and later Lower Dnieper Offensive, many of the institute's buildings were in ruin and required extensive reconstruction before the staff was able to move its educational activities back into them. After the war, on November 21, 1949 the Mining Institute was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner and a number of its staff members received high state awards (26 orders and 17 medals) for scientific achievements and success in training engineering and technical staff for the national economy. By 1951/52 academic year all the buildings of the institute had been completely rebuilt, with a new experimental study range for boring, a geological museum, and new laboratories and dormitories being put into use. In 1951 the Mine-Construction Faculty was established.

By its 50th anniversary the Institute had 165 professors, associate professors and lecturers, 1,942 students, 34 departments, 22 laboratories, 25 cabinets, a geological museum, library, experimental study range and experimental workshops.

In 1970 the Mining Institute employed 474 teachers, including 34 professors. At that time the number of graduating engineers equalled 1,200 persons and the number of specialists studying in full-time education was increasing, although part-time and extramural study forms also functioned.

In May 1993 according to the results of State accreditation for higher educational institutes, the Mining Institute gained the status of an autonomous IV-accreditation level state higher educational institution and received the name of the State Mining Academy of Ukraine. In February 2002 the institution was finally restructured and became the "National Mining University"; around the same time it started to widen its academic offering. Finally, in 2018, the university adopted its current name, "Dnipro University of Technology", to reflect its widened technical curriculum which is no longer solely focussed on mining sciences. Today it is one of the leading higher educational institution of the country in geological prospecting and mining fields. In 2009 celebrations were held to mark the 110th anniversary of the university's foundation.

The polytechnic's placing in the annual rankings of universities in Ukraine:

The faculties of the university are:

The polytechnic is currently home to two museums. These museums are entirely run by the institution's staff and students and are funded from its budget; the collections are expanded with the help of donors and items which are taken on loan. The two museums are both currently located in the main building (1st Corpus) of NMU on Dmytro Yavornytsky Prospekt.

The university's museum of geology and mineralogy

• Alexander Pol University Historical Museum – This museum was organised in the early 1970s and opened its doors on 12 October 1974 when the university was still known as the Dnipropetrovsk Mining Institute. Its subject material covers the entire history of the institution from its foundation in 1899 to the present day, and has a number of exhibits relating to the way in which students studied and were taught over the years. The Historical Museum is also devoted to recording the changes made to the university's property over the years; to that end it maintains a large collection of photographs detailing the construction, destruction and remodelling undertaken at the university over its lifetime.[17]
• Museum of Geology and Mineralogy – Opened 19 August 1935, the university's museum of geology and mineralogy is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. However, during the course of World War II it suffered greatly and lost all but 10 items of its 20,000-piece collection. After the war, the reconstruction of the collection took around 11 years and the museum was not reopened until 1955. The exposition contains about 3,000 exhibits, its area is over 350 square metres (3,800 sq ft), and there are 44 glass cases and 45 separate rests for samples in it. There are three main subsections of the museum, made up of: Mineralogy, Crystallography and Petrography, Historical Mineralogy and Paleontology, and finally Useful Minerals. Nowadays over 19,500 objects of interest from all around the world constitute the museum's collection, and it is visited by around 5,000 people annually.[18]

The polytechnic owns a number of hostels for the use of its students who wish to live on or near the grounds and facilities of the university. The capacity of the six combined hostels amounts to around 3,050, with Hostel No. 6 being the largest and catering for the greatest number of students. However demand for places in the university's hostels is often very high, making it impossible to house all the students who wish to live in them. Advantages of living in the university's accommodation are largely centred around the low (rental) cost of living there.

Hostel № 3 on Gagarin Prospekt

Current hostels owned by the university are located at the following addresses:

• Hostel № 1 – Dmytro Yavornytsky Prospekt, 21
• Hostel № 2 – Dmytro Yavornytsky Prospekt, 17
• Hostel № 3 – Gagarin Prospekt, 61
• Hostel № 4 – Gagarin Prospekt, 59
• Hostel № 5 – Gagarin Prospekt, 57
• Hostel № 6 – Oleksandr Pol Prospekt, 111-б

• Volodymyr Biletskyy;– Ukrainian scientist, politician, activist, Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor, member of the Academy of Economic Sciences of Ukraine, Ukrainian Academy of Mining Sciences, Shevchenko Scientific Society, and a researcher in coal mining, the initiator, science editor and project manager of Mining Encyclopedia (1998–2011)