To the Centenary of the Study of Geography at the Voronezh State University (1919-2019)

Abstract

Abstract: The purpose is to acquaint the university staff and the geographical community of the Russian Federation with the origins of the study of geography, and its phased formation in time as an academic discipline and scientific knowledge at the Voronezh State University. Materials and methods. A variety of literary sources and the author's experience in the events that took place at the geography faculty of the Voronezh State University from 1956 to the present have been drawn to write this article. An analysis of literary sources containing materials from the State Archives allowed us to establish that the beginning of the study of geography at the Voronezh State University dates back to the first years of its organization. In 2019, the 100th anniversary was celebrated. Three stages are distinguished in the geographical education of the university: The first stage: (1919-1934) – geography as an academic discipline; the second stage (1934-1985) – geography as a specialty among traditional academic disciplines from the system of geographical sciences (climatology, land hydrology, cartography); the third stage (1986 to the present) – geography as a specialty among new academic disciplines from the system of geographical sciences (geoecology, nature management, tourism). Results and discussion. The development of geographical education at the Voronezh State University over the course of a century was characterized by periods of upsurge and decline. We are inclined to explain such fluctuations by features of execution of dean official duties. Over the period 1917-1938, the faculty was supervised by 10 people, who, according to the contribution made by them to the development of the faculty, we combine into four groups: 1) the deans of development; 2) the dean of stagnation and decline; 3) the dean of the suspension of the fall of the Faculty of Geography with signs of rise; 4) the triumphant dean. Conclusion. The last period in the centuries-old history of the study of geography (1990-2017) was characterized by significant changes: 1) in the staff of the faculty; 2) the development of new training specialties (areas) – environmental protection and rational use of natural resources; geoecology; nature management; tourism; 3) the introduction of practice-oriented education; 4) the creation of three new departments (geoecology and environmental monitoring; nature management; recreational geography, regional studies and tourism); 5) the organization of a scientific periodical (Proceedings of the VGU. Series: Geography. Geoecology), which has been recognized by the Higher Attestation Commission since 2005; 6) training of highly qualified specialists for the university and other Russian and foreign universities through the defense of candidate and doctoral dissertations in three geographical specialties; 7) the participation of faculty members in the implementation of grant researches programmes of the “Universities of Russia”, RFBR, Russian Geographical Society, Tempus and others; 8) training of students from foreign countries (Vietnam, Spain, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, Palestine, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, CAR, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus); 9) the creation of conditions for studying foreign languages – Today, among the five departments of the faculty, several employees of the three departments speak English and Chinese.