Web site: http://www-cdo.univer.kharkov.ua

In the 1960s, the foundation of the Part-Time (Correspondence) Youth School at the University started its systematic work with high-school students. The main objective of the School was to encourage interest in Physics and Mathematics among schoolchildren. In 1969, a Resolution of the USSR Cabinet of Ministers initiated the opening of presessional training centers in universities and institutes. The centers were organized for those demobilized from the Soviet Army and industrial workers who wanted to get a higher education. Such a center was opened at Kharkiv University as well and since then it has trained over 5, 000 students. In the 1970s, the University started preparatory courses. In 1995, the center and the courses were merged to create the Center for Presessional Training, which also started various lecture courses for schoolchildren, established the distance secondary school of physics and mathematics in 1999, and founded the Junior University in 2000.

The preparatory courses and the distance secondary school with branches in many regions of Ukraine provide profound training required to enter the University. At the center the schoolchildren can attend lectures in various fields of knowledge given by the University’s professors and researchers and find out about the latest achievement in science and technology. The Junior University invites schoolchildren of all ages to attend courses designed by the University professors in many branches of science. The Junior University students win various contests and participate in its annual summary conference, which publishes their reports. All schoolchildren are invited to participate in the festival of physics and mathematics the Scientific Start and I.I. Mechnikov Contest in biology. The Center for Presessional Training is also an initiator and participant of the Kharkiv University Cup in Mathematics, which was started to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the University foundation.

Today the Center focuses not only on preparing schoolchildren for the University entrance exams, but also on popularizing achievements in education and science, developing the creative potential of the youth, improving their educational standards, looking for talented children, and providing for their further education. With this aim, the faculty of the Center participate in holding the 3rd round of the Ukrainian National Contest for Schoolchildren in the Kharkiv Region and the University Contests for Enrollees and in organizing University exhibitions and lectures in popular science for schoolchildren in the Kharkiv Region and other parts of Ukraine. The Center coordinates the University’s cooperation with the local branch of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and hosts the 2nd round of the Ukrainian National Contest of Research Works by schoolchildren, members of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

The Center takes an active part in organizing the Days of Open Doors and other events for schoolchildren. It maintains close cooperation with the Kharkiv and the Feodosiya University Lyceums.

During the whole year, the faculty of the Center support future enrollees with detailed information about the selected Schools and majors and offer the curricula for the entrance exams.

The Center is planning to establish new branches of its distance secondary school and to organize the Days of Kharkiv National University in the major cities of the Kharkiv Region and other parts of Ukraine.