The first socio-economic discipline at KhPI
“The institute teaches: …chemical technology, metallurgy, political economy and statistics, accounting…” – from the Charter of the Kharkiv Technological Institute (1885)
Teaching political economy in technical educational institutions in the 19th century was a common practice – the course was taught from the moment of its establishment at the St. Petersburg Practical Technological Institute, the St. Petersburg Mining Institute, and the Riga Polytechnic School. The Charter of the Kharkiv Technological Institute at the time of its foundation also naturally provided for political economy and statistics.
Rector of the Kharkiv Technological Institute V.L. Kirpychov wrote: “Knowledge of the basics of political economy is very important, if not for all the students of the Institute, then for many of them, who will have a wider activity, … familiarity with the general laws governing production, distribution of the country’s wealth and other provisions of the doctrine of national wealth”.
V.L. Kirpychov negotiates with Professor Vladimir Favstovich Levitsky of the Kharkov Imperial University about teaching political economy and asks him to draw up a course program. Levitsky treats the request with great readiness and agrees.
So in the fifth year of study in the second semester, political economy is introduced into the number of disciplines taught in the form of three lectures per week. The course program includes issues considered by modern economic theory, such as fixed and circulating capital, forms of production, interest on capital; and the now forgotten history of patronage traditions in Russia, state and public charity (based on materials from the State Archive of the Kh.o. Fund-770, item No. 281 “On the introduction of teaching Factory Hygiene and Political Economy”).