First-year student initiation ceremony 2026

We always look forward with particular warmth to our first meeting with our first-year students, as each new generation of students marks the beginning of a new chapter in the Institute’s history. Today, we are opening that chapter together.

The first-year students were welcomed by Valerii Kopiika, Acting Rector of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and Olena Pryiatelchuk, Acting Director of the Institute of Mathematics and Physics.

Valerii Kopiika emphasised that the students are already contributing to our shared victory through their choice to remain in Ukraine, to study, work and acquire knowledge even under the most challenging circumstances.

As the academic year began at the Institute, the first-year students were also welcomed by guests of honour: Andrii Sibiga, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, and graduates of the Institute of International Relations and International Studies – Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, and Olha Zykova, Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine.

One of the key topics of the meeting was Ukrainian diplomacy. Andrii Sybiga spoke about the Institute’s strong diplomatic tradition, its history and its role in shaping Ukraine’s foreign policy.

“It was right here, within these walls and on the basis of these traditions, that Ukrainian diplomacy took shape. The first and second Ministers for Foreign Affairs of independent Ukraine, Anatoliy Zlenko and Hennadiy Udovenko, were graduates of the Institute and shaped Ukraine’s foreign policy,” emphasised Andriy Sybiga.

The Minister noted the high standard of training provided to graduates of the Institute of International Relations, for whom state institutions are now competing. Addressing the first-year students, he urged them to consider the diplomatic service and the foreign policy system as one of their potential career paths.

For over 80 years, the Educational and Research Institute of International Relations has remained a leading centre for training specialists in international relations, developing the traditions of the Ukrainian diplomatic school and its own academic schools in the fields of international relations, international law and international economic relations. It has trained generations of diplomats and statesmen who have represented and continue to represent Ukraine on the world stage and shape its foreign policy.

Today, the Institute continues these traditions, combining a strong academic tradition with modern professional training for a new generation of international relations specialists.