The Department of Geography of Ukraine is one of the leading educational and academic centers of geographical Ukrainian studies in the country. It was established in May 1990. The opening of the department was due to the need to intensify regional and sectoral geographical studies of Ukraine during the deployment in the second half of the 1980s of the national movement for the restoration of state independence. It became the first department of this direction in the history of various geographical institutions in Ukraine.

The founder of the department and the first head – a famous Ukrainian geographer, doctor of geographical sciences, prof. Zastavny Fedir (1929–2012).

The department has eight teachers (two – professors, doctors of geographical sciences, six – associate professors, candidates of geographical sciences (PhD), one head of the laboratory and two teaching and support staff.

The Department of Geography of Ukraine trains experts:

• bachelor’s degree: educational program “Urbanism, Spatial Planning and Regional Development” in specialty 106 “Geography” and specialty 014.7 “Secondary education (Geography)”;
• master’s degree: specialties 106 “Geography” and 014.7 “Secondary education (Geography)”;
• postgraduate studies: training of doctors of philosophy (PhD) in the specialty 103 “Earth Sciences”;
• doctoral studies: training of doctors of geographical sciences in the specialty 11.00.02 “Economic and social geography”.

A feature of the educational activity of the Department of Geography of Ukraine is the constant work on the introduction of innovative specializations, programs, training courses. Already in the autumn of 1990, in the year of creation of the department, the first group of students majoring in “Geography of Ukraine” was formed. In 1997 the first enrollment of students for the educational program in tourism management took place, and in 2002 the Department of Geography of Ukraine carried out the first graduation of specialists in this field. In 2003, as a result of the division of the Department of Geography of Ukraine, a new structural unit was formed at the Geography faculty – the Department of Tourism. In 2016, the Department of Geography of Ukraine began in the bachelor’s and master’s degree training for the specialization “Geourbanism and Spatial Planning” within the specialty “Geography”. In the summer of 2021, there was first enrollment of students for a new educational and professional program of the first (bachelor’s) level – “Urbanism, spatial planning and regional development” (specialty 106 “Geography”).

During its operation, the department has trained more than 500 qualified experts – specialists, bachelors, masters.

The academic activity of the department is extremely diverse. In total, about 20 areas of research are being developed. The peculiarity of the department is the development of new and interdisciplinary academic directions: political geography and geography, ethnogeography, linguistic geography, toponymy, cultural geography, urban planning, spatial planning, and others. In some of these areas, the department holds leadership positions in Ukraine. Important components of academic research since the beginning of the department are the regional geography of Ukraine and methods of teaching geography in higher and secondary school.

During the activity of the department teachers have published more than 80 monographs, textbooks, manuals, hundreds of academic articles in Ukrainian and foreign journals. 23 PhD and two doctoral dissertations were prepared and defended.

Research topic of the Department of Geography of Ukraine, which is performed within working hours – “Geographical problems of development of regions and cities of Ukraine.”

The department has a laboratory of geography and economics teaching methods in secondary school.