The history of the Education and Research Institute for Business Technologies “UAB” of the Sumy State University beganin 1996, when the Ukrainian Academy of Banking was founded in Sumy.

Today it is difficult to imagine that a couple of decades ago there was no Academy of Banking here. Nevertheless, this higher educational institution so rapidly gained its niche on the market of educational services and its elegant lilac-coloured buildings have so organically blended into the town’s architecture becoming its decoration that it seems that the Academy has always existed.

Few people know the history of creation of the “Ukrainian Academy of Banking in Sumy. Thanks to the commitment of its rector Anatoliy Yefanov this educational institution came to existence. He succeeded in persuading the Ukrainian state authorities in the necessity of creation of this economic higher educational institution in the Sumy region, which is famous for its long-standing traditions of formation and development of the banking system. Also in the middle nineties of the 20th century there was an urgent need in young specialists for the market economy of the independent Ukraine.

In spite of some difficulties in February 1996 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued a decree about the creation of the Ukrainian Academy of Banking. This was followed by hard work connected with the reconstruction of the premises of the former school № 2 (earlier – a gymnasium for girls). By the beginning of the new academic year this building in the centre of the town had been completely restored and opened its doors for the Academy’s students. It became the first educational building of the Academy. Some time later one more edifice in the town’s centre was renovated, becoming the Academy’s second educational building. Another year passed and a structure of unique beauty, the rebuilt historical edifice appeared nearby, which became the main educational building of the Academy.

Later a unique Sports complex was built, which by the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine was granted the status of an Olympic training center, as well as a policlinic and a comfortable “Olympic” Hotel.

In December of 2009, with the participation of the President of Ukraine a unique Scientific Library of the Ukrainian Academy of Banking was opened. It became a scientific, educational, informational and socio-cultural center with the state of the art equipment and innovative technologies. The main advantages of the library include a free and easy access to the literature and a comfortable working environment.

In May 2011 the Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, the Coordinator of the EU Press and Information Office David Stulik, a number of ambassadors of the EU countries opened the Information Centre of the European Union at the Scientific Library of the Academy. The center became one of the main sources of information about the European Union. It was designed to facilitate research on the European integration offering the necessary information about the history and principles of the European Union, the achievements of the EU member-states, current problems and future development strategy of the European Community.

The visit to the Academy of the Consul General of Poland in Kharkiv Jan Granat served as an impetus for the creation of the Polish cultural centre at the scientific library of the Ukrainian Academy of Banking. The centre’s goal is to introduce the history, culture and contemporary life of Poland to students and the community of Sumy. The centre conducts educational, scientific, cultural exchange programs, organizes exhibitions, presentations, literary soirees and round tables, weeks of Polish cinema, meetings with prominent figures from Poland. Polish language courses are also offered. The goal of the centre is not only the popularization of the Polish historic and cultural heritage, but also the establishment of partnerships between the Polish and Ukrainian organizations.

The Academy takes good care of the living conditions of its employees. In May 2012, 56 families of lecturers received flats in the newly built comfortable house in Sumy. The Academy’s employees moved into one-, two-, three -and four room modern apartments.

On September 8th, 2012 another event took place that was certainly of interest not only to the athletes and staff of the Academy, but also to the general public in Sumy. On the day of physical education and sport the Alley of Olympic Fame was opened with the active participation of the Academy’s administration. It is located near the Academy’s athletics complex. 15 stands with photographs and biographies of our fellow-Olympians were installed here while the former wastelands were paved and transformed into modern alleys with benches, lights and playgrounds.

During the short period of its existence the Academy has become a higher educational institution of the European type. It has the highest level accreditation. According to the “Sophia of Kiev” rating of Ukraine’s universities, the Ukrainian Academy of Banking of the National Bank of Ukraine is among the top ten of the country’s best economic educational institutions. It won a silver prize at the International exhibition “Modern education in Ukraine – 2002” and received a diploma “For contribution to the development of the national educational system”. In 2004 the Academy was awarded a bronze medal in the nomination “Innovative pedagogical methods in educational process”, and in the year 2005 it was given a bronze statue as one of the country’s best universities. In 2008, the Academy won the competition “100 best products from Ukraine” in the “Educational services” nomination. In 2010, the Ukrainian Academy of Banking received a prestigious award – a statuette and diploma for winning the All-Ukrainian competition “NSMEP – 10 Steps to Success” in the nomination “Special Award of the National Bank of Ukraine for the contribution to the project “Electronic Student Card”. In the same year the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine awarded the Academy with the 1st degree diploma as the winner in the category of the best buildings constructed and put into operation in Ukraine in 2009, for implementation of advanced design solutions to achieve the high quality of buildings and dissemination of the best practices in the construction of the “Banking Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Banking” in Sevastopol.

In 2011, the Academy became the winner of All-Ukrainian competition “The best university for the training of specialists in the banking and financial sector – 2011” in the nomination “The best university according to the quality of retraining of specialists for the banking and financial sector in Ukraine”.

In 2012, the Ukrainian Academy of Banking of the National Bank of Ukraine received the award of the all-Ukrainian competition “The best university for the training of specialists in the banking and financial sector – 2012” in the nomination “The best university according to the quality of training and retraining of banking employees”.

2013 was a fruitful year for the Academy. It became the winner of the third All-Ukrainian competition “The best university for the training of specialists in the banking and financial sector according to the “Banker” magazine” in the nomination “The best university for the training of graduate and doctoral students”.

It should be noted that this award is well deserved, because our educational institution is known as a center for the training of highly qualified scientific personnel. Today, more than 80 per cent of the Academy’s faculty have scientific degrees. It has post-graduate and doctoral courses, a specialized scientific council for the evaluation of scientific dissertations, a modern scientific library with state of the art information technologies and equipment. Some of the Academy’s former students successfully continue their careers in their alma mater. It is not surprising that our lecturers and professors are the youngest in Ukraine. In the last year 2013 12 persons received Ph.D. degrees and 4 persons became doctors of sciences.

In 2013, the rating of the world universities was calculated. According to the “Webometrics Ranking of Universities”, the Academy rose from the 45th to 28th place in Ukraine and from the 5254th to 3206th position in the international ranking. This year according to the rating of the world repositories, the Ukrainian Academy of Banking has made considerable progress: its academic repository rose to the the 3rd place in Ukraine and 162nd position internationally.

In April 2013, students and post-graduate students made a creative video about the Academy “Lip Dub” – a type of video which became popular among university students in Western Europe and the United States.

In Ukraine similar videos were made by students of the Institute of Journalism of the Kyiv National University and the “Krok” University. However, according to the mass character of the video-shooting and the number of participants (500 students), our Lip Dub can definitely be considered the most popular and professionally made one!

In 2014 the history of our educational institution was supplemented with patriotic initiatives, sports and artistic victories, unique contests and creative activities that were organized at the Academy.

In February, on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the institution’s foundation the awarding of academic “Oscars” for contribution to the Academy’s development was initiated.

In January, the Museum of electronic office equipment was opened. The Center of Socio-economic Research and Academic Mobility was established for coordination of activities of departments and other structural units of the Academy to enhance international scientific and educational cooperation as well as academic exchanges of students, faculty and post-graduates, to encourage the Academy’s participation in grant programs and competitions.

June 12 was a memorable day for the university – the opening of a web portal, which became a new face of the Academy in the Internet.

To ensure the competitiveness of the Academy’s students and graduates on the labor market and professional development of the teaching staff through the establishment of contacts with professional certification organizations the Academic community of certified professionals was founded.

A new public organization “Banking Academy” was founded to promote the comprehensive development of the educational institution, to give organizational and financial support for educational, cultural, sports activities, social projects, charity work and volunteer movement, to assist students, lectures and employees of the Academy.

Participants of the theater studio “Kurazh” took part in the XV International Festival of Youth Theatres “Theater Session – 2014” and received an award for the best scenography.

November 8th, 2014 is likely to go down in history not only of the Academy, but also of the Sumy region, because on this day a record officially listed in the “Record Book of Ukraine” was set at the Scientific Library of the Ukrainian Academy of Banking. The result can also be considered a world record, because it significantly exceeds the result of the previous record listed in the “Guinness World Records”!

Young people from all regions of Ukraine study at the Academy. They are attracted by the educational institution where all the necessary conditions have been created for study and recreation. Together with the higher education diplomas graduating students receive excellent knowledge with good employment prospects.

In order to optimize its activity the National Bank of Ukraine transferred the Academy (together with the University of Banking of the National Bank of Ukraine (Kyiv)) to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. The acts of transfer were signed on August 28, 2015 by representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Academy of Banking and the University of Banking (Kyiv). The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine agreed to the proposal of the Ministry of Education about the reorganization of the Ukrainian Academy of Banking by making it a part of the Sumy State University. The corresponding decree was released on December 23, 2015.

In January 2016 the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine published a Decree Number 49, which launched the reorganization of the Academy. Representatives of the two universities signed a Memorandum about the goals and principles of unification of the Ukrainian Academy of Banking and the Sumy State University. According to the decisions of the two scientific councils of the Sumy State University of 10 March 2010 (Protocol Number 6) and the Ukrainian Academy of Banking of March 10, 2016 (Protocol Number 20) theEducation and Research Institute for Business Technologies “UAB” of the Sumy State and the Educational and Research Institute of Law of the Sumy State University were established.