Department of Geography of Ukraine and Tourism

Head of the Department: Tetiana Ivanivna Bozhuk,
DSc (Doctor of Geographical Sciences), Docent

Senior Laboratory Assistant: Halyna Bohdanivna Holovko

The Department of Geography of Ukraine and Tourism was established in 1992 and was called “Department of Geography of Ukraine”. It was the first in the country among similar departments in higher education institutions. Its establishment was initiated by B. I. Zastavetskyi, PhD in Geographical Sciences, Associate Professor, who was the first Head of the Department (until 2000). In 2004–2008, the department had been functioning under the name “Department of Geography of Ukraine, Local History and Tourism”. The Head of the Department were O.V. Zastavetska, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Professor, was the Head of the Department (2000 – 2017), Ya. O. Maryniak, PhD in Geographical Sciences, Associate Professor (2017-2019), T. I. Bozhuk, Doctor of Geographical Sciences (since 2019).

Today the teaching staff of the department consists of 12 persons: 1 Doctor of Geographical Sciences and 11 PhDs in Geographical Sciences.

The department prepares students in specialties

242 Tourism on the first (bachelor) and second (master) levels, and also provides education in specialties
106 Geography,
014.07 Secondary education (Geography),
103 Earth Sciences.

The department has close scientific relations with leading higher education institutions of Ukraine (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Odessa I.I. Mechnikov National University). It has established active cooperation with foreign partners (University of Economics in Katowice (Poland), Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa (Poland), Academic Society of Michal Baludansky, (Slovakia), DAAD: German Academic Exchange Service).

The scientific interests of the department staff are concentrated around such problems:

theoretical and methodological foundations of the formation and functioning of recreational and tourist destinations, religious, rural green and geotourism, recreational and tourist activity on the territory of objects of the nature reserve fund, balneological resorts and mountain tourist centers, their cartographic support;
theoretical and methodological problems of tourism geography, statistical methods in tourism, local geography, water resources and environmental protection, thematic mapping, ethnic geography and history of geography;
clarification of geospatial features of the social and political sphere of Ukraine, problems of regional (economic) geography of Ukraine, services and welfare of the population, history of local tourism, formation of tourist infrastructure, features of international tourism; problems of studying the hotel industry of Ternopil region and Ukraine, marketing activities of travel agencies, research of tourism infrastructure, image formation and use of PR technologies in tourism, etc.;
geographical problems of regional eco-networks formation, theoretical and applied aspects of tourist and recreational activities development, formation of territorial recreational systems, etc.;
theoretical and methodological features of tourist local history, development of recreation and its applied value for tourism activities, the role of insurance in tourism, current issues of methodology of theory and practice of excursion services organization, theoretical foundations and strategies for the development of tourism management and touring, sociological and pedagogical aspects of tourism activities, problems of qualified specialists training for the tourism sector;
problems of Ukrainian geo-urban science, information technologies in geography and tourism;
marketing processes in Ukraine at the present stage, organization of restaurant business and legal regulation of tourist activity, features of tourist infrastructure functioning;
territorial structure of tourism and recreational economy of the region; geography of transport and communications, cartographic modeling, perspective types and directions of tourism;
geospatial organization of the cultural and artistic sphere of the region.

“Open Lecture at the Faculty of Geography” is a project, that functions at the Department. The lectures are conducted by invited practitioners of the tourism sphere of Ternopil and professors (in particular from the University of Economics in Katowice, Poland).

Licensed training in the field of Tourism has been conducted since 2004 (in this sphere the Department was number one in Ternopil region and one of the best in Western Ukraine).

The teaching staff of the Department organizes practices in tourism, technology and tourist activities organization, local history, etc. Students take part in researching natural, historical and cultural tourist objects of Ternopil region and Western Ukraine. Technological and manufacturing practices relate to the functioning of tourism enterprises and organizations. Students have a lot of practical classes and practices directly at tourism business enterprise (hotels, restaurants, travel agencies). Study excursions throughout Ukraine and abroad (European countries) are regularly organized, so that students get acquainted with tourist sites and organization of tourist activities in the foreign countries and regions of Ukraine. Numerous times students have visited Germany under the guidance of department’s teachers, using grant support from the DAAD program.

Students-scientists have been awarded diplomas for participation in Olympiads, competitions of scientific works, public projects.

Many “Tourism” specialty graduates of TNPU work both in Ukrainian tourist business enterprises and abroad (Cyprus, Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Czech Republic, the USA, and more).

Besides that, the Department staff provides educational services at refresher training courses in the specialty "Tourism" for employees of institutions, enterprises and organizations of tourism sphere (according to the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine №109-l from 20.03.20, currently the only case in the Western Ukraine).

Teachers of the Department actively collaborate with local education authorities and tourist organizations. They manage the research of the students of the Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. They teach the students of the TNPU Preparation Center. They are permanent members of the jury of All-Ukrainian Olympiads of tourism and geography.

For the successful work in the field of tourism and for training highly qualified specialists, the Department has been awarded several diplomas of Ternopil Regional State Administration and Ternopil Regional Council.