The Business Foreign Languages and Translation Department was established by Rector’s initiative in 1998 to meet the requirements of certain university departments for more intensive and hard-driving programs in foreign languages, where graduates could acquire fluency in foreign languages and master professional terminology by the end of their study at the university.

In addition, the university administration intended to open a new “Translation” specialty as a second education for undergraduate and graduate students to create a new philological degree program.

In 2000, the Department received a license from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to train translators at the Bachelor’s degree level. In the 2001-2002 academic year the “Translation” specialty 6,030,500, as a first degree with majors in “Scientific and Technical Translation” and “Effective Communication in Economics” debuted. The number of government-financed places was 10 and places on a contract basis was 15 (for a total licensed volume of 25 people).

In the 2002-2003 academic year the “Translation” specialty was opened as a second degree (correspondence course) for those graduates who have a Bachelor’s degree in technical professions.

In 2003 the department received a license for training translators at the “Specialist” degree level.

The department has a staff of experienced and highly qualified professionals in the English language and in the theory and practice of translation. It trains students from the first to the fifth year in the “Translation” specialty with the qualification “Bachelor of Philology. Translator (English)” and “Specialist in Translation (English)”.

The staff of the department includes: Associate Professors V.B. Konovalova and I.I. Timchenko, Candidates of Pedagogical Science; Associate Professors V.M. Myroshnychenko and O.M. Golikova, Candidates of Philological Science; Associate Professor O.A.Andreyeva, Candidate of Philosophical Science; and a number of teachers who soon intend to defend their thesis: Assistant Professor Yu.V. Dyshleva, Senior teachers T.B. Mudrachenko, V.N. Shevchenko and O.V.Buivol, and young teachers Yu.V. Kupriyenko, N.M. Pilguy, Ye.D. Kozlov, S.Ye. Ustimenko and others.

From the very beginning the Department defined the area of specialization: scientific and technical translation and translation in economics. For the last several years the Department has been cooperating with the “Telesens” company on the “Silicon Valley” project to create a new direction of training interpreters as technical writers in the field of software development. One of the achievements of the Department is the development of the ” Patent Documentation Translation ” course, headed by an Assistant Professor S.A. Tsaryova, an experienced specialist in this field, who has a diploma in patent studies and is the author of two textbooks on translation of patents of Great Britain and the United States recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) of Ukraine. A unique educational direction is the translation of mass media terminology course developed by an Assistant Professor S.P. Yeremin, the author of the textbook on the translation of mass media terminology (recommended by the MES of Ukraine). The German section is headed by an Assistant Professor V.A. Kibenko, one of the authors of a number of newly created German-Ukrainian dictionaries. One of the teachers of the German section is an Assistant Professor V.V. Kucheryavy, a highly qualified specialist in the theory and practice of translation and country studies.

Working at the Department part-time are such well-known scientists as Professor V.V. Dubichynsky, Doctor of Philology, head of the NTU “KPI” Translation Center; Professor O.D. Mikhilyov, Doctor of Philology, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Professor P.M. Donets, Doctor of Philology; Associate Professor N.A. Onishchenko, Candidate of Philological Science.

Since the creation of the Business Foreign Languages and Translation Department the head of it has been Professor of NTU “KPI” Antonina Anatoliyivna Badan, Candidate of Philological Science (Germanic languages), who has a long-term practical experience of working as an interpreter. Her experience in the field of translation played a decisive role in the establishment of the “Translation” specialty at the university.

In December 2008, the department celebrated its 10th anniversary. A video overview of the ceremonial meeting of this event can be viewed here.