Taras Shevchenko University, Kiev

Kiev National University (KNU), aka Taras Shevchenko's University, is the third oldest and most academically acclaimed institution for higher education in Ukraine. It offers tuition in 15 faculties and five institutes to over 20,000 students.

KNU was established in 1834 by order of Nicolai I, Emperor of Russia, and was named initially Saint Vladimir's University, in honour of the monarch who baptised Kievan Rus. Upon inauguration, the university had only one faculty - of Philosophy - with two departments: the department of History and Philology; and the department of Physics and Mathematics. Later, several more faculties were added, including the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Law. In 1939, the university was named Taras Shevchenko, after the great national poet and artist who once taught at and greatly contributed to KNU's development. Among the university's famous alumni are Mikhail Bulgakov, Nikolay Bunge, Nikolai Berdyaev, Mykhailo Drahomanov, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Viacheslav Chornovil, Leonid Kravchuk and Oksana Zabuzhko.

The university occupies a four story building, painted the distinct red; hence its nickname – the Red University. The colour was chosen by students as a sign of protest and a reminder to Tsar Nicholas II of the Ukrainian soldiers killed in World War I.