Vinnytsia Pedagogical Institution of Higher Education was founded in 1912. At that time it was a Teachers' Training Institute, that offered a three-year course to about 100 students. The Institute trained teachers for primary schools. In 1920 the Teachers' Training Institute was reorganized into a People's Educational Institute (PEI), which had 2 departments - the Department of Primary Education and a School Training Department of Language, History and Natural Geography. In accordance with the decision of the Ukrainian Government People's Educational Institutes were renamed Institutes of Social Upbringing.        The Institute in Vinnytsia had four departments: of History and Economy, Agrobiology, Language and Literature, Technical-economic. It was at that time that the first efforts were made to further develop the material basis and resources: an agrobiological station was formed in the Institute, specialized studies were equipped to train students in several subjects. Ukraine needed more teachers with every passing year, so the Board of People's Commissariat made a decision to introduce a new system of teacher training: Institutes of Social Upbringing were reorganized into Pedagogical Institutes with a four-year term of study.       In 1933 our Institute was transformed into a Pedagogical Institute to train teachers in three departments: the Department of Physics and Mathematics, the Department of Language and Literature, the Department of History. At that time the Institute trained 440 full-time students - 438 students in its subdivision - Teachers' Training Institute, - 48 part-time evening students, 1700 correspondence students. Special attention was paid to the organization of the Chairs, providing qualified training. First scientific conferences were held, students' scientific circles began to work more actively. At that time the Institute was famous due to the fact that such well-known scientists as O. M. Astryab, Correspondent Member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Professor of Mathematics and Methodology, Professor V.K. Bernatsky, Member of the YUAN, Writer Grygory Kochur and others worked at the Institute.     The war crashed a heavy blow at the Institute. The teachers, undergraduate and graduate students fought the fascism bravely at the fronts, in the partisan detachments and underground organizations. The occupants ruined the building of the Institute, its laboratories, studies and library. After the liberation of Vinnytsia from the German-fascist invaders in 1944 the Institute resumed its activity. Gradually the training and upbringing activities in the Institute came to normal. In 1950 new departments were opened in the Institute: the Department of Foreign Languages, the Department of Physical Education, the Department of Primary Schooling. The Institute experienced the highest growth in the 1970s-1990s, when new specialities and Departments were opened. In 1979 it became the fourth Pedagogical Institute of Higher Education, that held the first category. In 1993 the Institute received the fourth-category license of educational activity in ten specialities and the third-category license in two more. In 1997 the Ukrainian Ministry of Education certified 14 specialities of the Institute. At present the Institute trains teachers in 15 separate specialities, or 21 joined ones, which offer programs in all school subjects. The number of students has increased considerably too. Now the Institute provides the training of 7350 students, 4750 full-time students among them.       The College is one of the subdivisions of the Pedagogical University. It was formed on the basis of the Vinnytsia Pedagogical College that was liquidated. The College trains about 1000 students. Significant work has been done to improve the scientific qualification of the teaching staff. In late 1950s 220 teachers were the members of the staff, 32 of them holding the Candidate of Sciences degree, neither Doctors of Sciences nor Professors among them. By comparison, at present 40 Doctors of Sciences, Professors, 226 Candidates of Sciences, Associate Professors, represent the 418-member teaching staff of the University. The University offers post-graduate courses in 13 specialities. After Ukraine was proclaimed an independent sovereign state, the staff of our Institution joined efforts in reforming and improving the content of education to meet the current needs. New active forms, teaching methods and approaches, new curricula and syllabuses, the majority being of the Chairs' authorship, are being put into practice in the training system. The recommendations, regarding the upbringing, for which the National concept of upbringing served the basis, have beep worked out by the teaching staff as guidelines. The scientific research of the teaching staff is focused on the branches of prior importance, statefunded ones being among them. During the five years (1993-1997) the lecturers and readers of the University worked out 4355 items for publication, total 3073 printer's sheets; including 38 monographs, 20 textbooks, 176 scientific-methodological handbooks. The Ukrainian Ministry of Education approved the majority of these materials to put into practical implementation. The scientific contacts of the University have expended considerably. The Chairs have been maintaining collaboration with scientific centers and educational institutions in Russia, Byelorussia, Moldova, the United States of America, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland and other countries.      The Pedagogical University has a proper educational-material basis. The total area of the studies and laboratories is 34838 square meters. Specialized study rooms and laboratories are well equipped with modern technological teaching means and visuals. The students' campus of the University includes5 halls of residence which house 2800 students. For its 85-year existence our educational institution has trained 45000 teachers for different regions of Ukraine. The educational authorities, mass media publications state that the graduates of the University provide good teaching and upbringing for school students and combine their creative work with active participation in social and cultural activities. Hundreds of the graduates hold the honorary titles of Honored Teachers and Honors for Excellency in Teaching. Many graduates of the University have defended Candidate and Doctorate dissertations and continue their work in higher educational institutions and scientific- research centers all over Ukraine. More than 150 lecturers, working in Vinnytsia Pedagogical University, graduated from this educational institution. Many famous scientists, writers, celebrities, cultural workers are former students of the University. The University status, approved recently, is a result of joined fruitful work of the whole staff. It opens new perspectives for further successful accomplishments of our educational institution. Its major purpose is to train qualified teachers in conformity with world-recognized standards.