Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev

Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev was founded in 1834 by Nicholas I of Russia (r. 1825–1855), and was named after Vladimir the Great, the 10/11th century ruler of Kievan Rus'. The university's name was chosen by the authorities of the Russian Empire, where the role of Orthodox Christianity was immense; the choice of name was a reflection of Kiev as the cradle of Eastern Christianity for the Empire.

The university benefited from assets transferred from Vilnius University and a lyceum in Kremenets (Volhynian Governorate, today Western Ukraine), which was closed in the aftermath of the November Uprising of 1830. The first 62 students started their studies at the university in 1834, in its one faculty, the Faculty of Philosophy, which had two departments: the Department of History and Philology and the Department of Physics and Mathematics. There were new additions to the original department in 1835 and 1847: the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Medicine. Later on, the original Faculty of Philosophy was divided into two separate units: the Faculty of History and Philology and the Faculty of Natural Sciences. There were no more additions to the number of departments until the 1920s.The walls of the main building are painted in red while the tops and bottoms of its columns are painted black. Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych's "Shchedryk" was premiered at the Kiev University on December 26, 1916, by the university's choir directed by Oleksandr Koshyts.

Mykhailo Drahomanov University (1920–1932)

In 1920, Saint Vladimir University was renamed as Mykhailo Drahomanov University.

Taras Shevchenko University (from 1939)

In 1939, the university was renamed after Ukrainian national bard Taras Shevchenko, who had also been briefly employed by the university between 1845 and 1846.

During the German–Soviet war, the university was evacuated to the city of Kyzylorda in Kazakhstan, where it merged with the National University of Kharkiv to form the United Ukrainian State University. After the liberation of Kyiv in 1943, the university returned to its original location. Students and lecturers rebuilt the Humanities and Chemistry buildings and by 15 January 1944, classes resumed for senior undergraduates and for first-years on 1 February.

Since 1960, when the first international students were admitted, over 20,000 highly qualified specialists have been trained at Taras Shevchenko University for 120 countries. The first foreign students of the Taras Shevchenko University came from Cuba, Guinea, Indonesia, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin, Zanzibar, Yemen, Algeria, Namibia and Afghanistan. They continued on to become doctors, engineers, agriculturists, diplomats, economists, and statesmen in their respective countries.

During the Soviet period, the Taras Shevchenko University received one Order of Lenin (1959) and one Order of the October Revolution (1984). Additionally, in 2002 the asteroid 4868 Knushevia was named in honour of Kyiv Taras Shevchenko University.

During the Russo-Ukrainian war, several buildings of the university's Institutes of International Relations and Journalism were damaged in a Russian drone attack on 3 November 2024.