Scientific and Methodological Centre for Organization and Coordination of Educational Activity

Head of the Centre Colonel
Mykola Palamar

Deputy Chief of the CentreColonel
Ruslan Torchevskyi

The Scientific and Methodological Centre for the Organization of Educational Activity is a structural unit of the National Defence University of Ukraine. It is designed to organize and ensure the training of specialists with higher education to meet the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations, in accordance with the laws of Ukraine. Additionally, it serves law enforcement agencies, representatives of legislative authorities, and armed forces of foreign states.

The main tasks of the Centre are:

• organisation, coordination, and support of the educational process;
• organisation and provision of admission and certification of higher education applicants;
• organisation, planning, and provision of the work of the Methodological Council of University;
• analysis and forecast of the University’s educational activity;
• scientific and methodological support for educational activities and implementation of research results in the educational process on issues of improving the efficiency of training and the quality of military specialists’ training.

History of the Centre’s Creation

The chronicle of the Scientific and Methodological Centre for the Organisation of Educational Activity dates back to the creation of the Armed Forces Academy of Ukraine in 1992. Major General V. Shapoval, Candidate of Military Sciences, Associate Professor, who took direct part in this work as part of the organisational core, was appointed as the Chief of the training department by the order of the Minister of Defence of Ukraine on October 21, 1992, and became its first leader. October 21, 1992, is considered the day of the creation of the Scientific and Methodological Centre for the Organization of Educational Activity.

In 1998, the training department was reorganised into the educational department and transferred to a new staff, which did not change the volume of tasks assigned to the unit as a whole.

During the March 1999 reform, the Armed Forces Academy of Ukraine became the Defence Academy of Ukraine (later, the National Defence Academy of Ukraine), and its educational department became part of its organizational structure. In order to align the organisational structure with the tasks assigned to the educational department, in June 2001, due to the Order of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine dated June 7, 2001, No. 115/1/3205, the educational department of the Academy under the leadership of Colonel O. Shutov was reformed into the educational and methodological department. From November 2001 to September 2005, the educational and methodological department of the academy was headed by Major General A. Yavtushenko.

The reorganisation of the National Defence Academy of Ukraine into the National Defence University of Ukraine in 2010 led to the transformation of the educational and methodological department into the scientific and methodological centre of educational activity, which was headed by Colonel V. Martyniuk (from September 2005 to May 2012). From January 2013 to the present, Colonel M. Palamar has been leading the Scientific and Methodological Centre of Educational Activity.

Management Personnel of the Centre:

The Chief of the Centre is Colonel Mykola Palamar, born in 1965. He graduated from the Kyiv Higher Tank Engineering School in 1987, the National Defence Academy of Ukraine in 2000, and obtained an operational-strategic level of military education at the National Defence University of Ukraine in 2011. With 14 years of scientific work experience, he has been the Chief of the Centre since January 2013 and is also a participant in combat operations.

The Deputy Chief of the Centre is Colonel Ruslan Torchevskyi, born in 1980, and holds a Ph.D. in Pedagogical Sciences. He graduated from the Kharkiv Institute of Air Force named after Ivan Kozhedub in 2002 and the National Defence University of Ukraine in 2010. In 2013, he completed his postgraduate studies at the National Defence University of Ukraine, and in 2024, he obtained a strategic level of military education at the Course for Senior Strategic Level Leadership (L-4). With over 13 years of scientific work experience, Colonel Torchevskyi has served as the Deputy Chief of the Centre since September 2020. Additionally, he is a participant in combat operations.

Structure of the Centre:

As of February 2024, the Organisational Structure of the Scientific and Methodological Centre for the Organisation of Educational Activity is as follows:

• Management of the Centre;
• Scientific and Methodological Department for the Organization, Coordination, and Support of the Educational Process;
• Scientific and Methodological Department for the Organization and Support of Admission, Licensing, and Certification;
• Scientific and Methodological Department for the Analysis and Forecasting of Educational Activities, including the Scientific and Methodological Laboratory for Internal Quality Assurance of Educational Activities;
• Methodological Office;
• Centre's Administration;
• Dispatch.

The scientific potential of the Centre consists of:

21 scientific and 1 pedagogical staff, among them - 3 Doctors of Sciences, 2 Candidates of Sciences, and 2 PhDs.

The most well-known scientific workers are Doctors in various fields of science: Colonel Hanna Karakurkchi - Doctor of Technical Sciences, Senior Scientific Researcher, and Colonel Leonid Oliynyk - Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Senior Scientific Researcher.

The most significant achievements of the Centre include:

Over the university's existence, the Centre has organized and facilitated the education of more than 13,000 individuals.

According to the results of the review-competition to determine the best scientific unit of the National Defence University in 2023, the Scientific and Methodological Centre for Organization of Educational Activity was recognized in the nomination for the best structural scientific unit among the university's scientific centers.