Sumy National Agrarian University (SNAU) is a higher education institution of the 4th level of accreditation and one of the leading agrarian universities in Ukraine. Founded in 1977, over nearly 40 years of its existence, it has evolved from the Sumy branch of the Kharkiv Agricultural Institute named after V.V. Dokuchaiev into a powerful educational complex of national significance.
SNAU trains highly qualified specialists for the agro-industrial sector, with advanced studies in foreign languages and information technologies across a wide range of accredited specializations. The university’s structure includes 8 faculties, 1 institute, and 5 colleges.
Today, the labor market increasingly demands highly skilled professionals capable of working with modern technologies, especially at large agrarian and processing enterprises created in cooperation with foreign partners. SNAU offers students a unique opportunity not only to gain theoretical knowledge in their chosen field but also to apply it in practice at leading agricultural enterprises in Ukraine and abroad. The university maintains active partnerships with farms and companies in countries such as the UK, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, France, the USA, Australia, and the Netherlands, providing students with exposure to advanced international agricultural practices. This significantly enhances their professional level and future employment prospects.
The university serves a student population of approximately 11,000. It follows a principle of continuous digitalization: currently, SNAU has around 1,000 computer workstations, and the amount of contact display time per student, depending on the specialty, ranges from 250 to 350 hours. Both students and faculty have access to the latest scientific information via the Internet, and a local computer network has been established at the university.
Research activities are carried out in 19 scientific laboratories, and postgraduate education is offered in 26 specialties. The Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Production also hosts the Research Institute for Potato Industry Problems in the northeastern region of Ukraine.
The SNAU library holds over 500,000 volumes, including scientific, educational, fiction, and reference publications, as well as electronic textbooks for distance learning with Internet access.
For practical training, students use a teaching and research production laboratory (vivarium) housing agricultural animals and poultry — a kind of living textbook for future veterinarians, animal engineers, and other specialists. The university also operates a training and research farm with 2,600 hectares of land (2,300 of which are agricultural land), and a research field serviced by a team of engineering technologists using advanced machinery for modern agricultural crop cultivation.
The university’s student campus is, without exaggeration, one of the gems and highlights of the city of Sumy. Academic buildings, sports stadiums, laboratories, dormitories — all are situated on a large, neat, well-maintained, and fully equipped territory. The university operates cafes and a dining hall with the lowest prices in the city, a student club, and sports halls, where around 3,000 students participate in nearly 20 sports sections.
The Youth Entertainment Center hosts a variety of clubs, interest groups, art studios, and amateur artistic collectives. An annual creative arts contest for first-year students, “Meet Us – This is Who We Are!”, has become a university tradition. The artistic groups have a rich creative history, unique repertoires, and long-standing traditions.
Student self-government plays an increasingly active role in shaping future professionals. It is involved in the organizational and administrative activities of students. Today, self-government bodies operate in every faculty and dormitory, and the Student Rectorate is actively functioning.
Over the years, SNAU has become a true “cradle of professionals” for numerous agricultural enterprises and institutions in the region and across Ukraine. The university is proud of its many graduates. Some of them have followed in the footsteps of their mentors and now teach and conduct scientific research, while many others work successfully and productively in the agrarian sector of our country.
The university’s rector, Ihor Mykolayovych Kovalenko, Doctor of Biological Sciences and Professor, is also a graduate of SNAU. In his work, he strives to preserve the university’s best traditions and achievements while continuously seeking innovative approaches to education and research.
