Stepan Gzhytskyi National University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnologies Lviv (alternative spelling: Grzycki) is one of the oldest higher educational institutions in Ukraine.The roots of the University go to 1784 when a veterinary department was set up at Lviv University. In
Austria, Emperor
Joseph II introduced educational reform, according to which there were only three universities on the territory of empire: in
Vienna,
Prague and Lviv. Lviv University received the status of university in October, 1784 and began to teach veterinary medicine and then started the development of veterinary medicine as a science in
Galicia. At first they wanted to establish Veterinary school in Lviv like in Vienna but founded only the fifth university chair, the chair of veterinary medicine at the Medical Faculty of the University. The first professor and chairman was Georg Chmel (1747–1805) graduator of Vienna Veterinary School. He was an author of first veterinary works in Lviv. In 1881–1882 academic year the Veterinary School was founded in Lviv. Its full name was Kaiser-King Veterinary School together with school of forging horses and clinic for animals in Lviv. The Director of that school was Piotr Seifman (October 1, 1881), the former director of
Warsaw Veterinary School and a director of
Kazan's Veterinary Institute. At the same time
Henryk Kadyi and Antoni Barański became professors. In four years (February 19, 1885) the school gave the first five diplomas of veterinary doctors. According to resolution from December 1896 Lviv Veterinary School received status of
High School (Academy) (October 1, 1897) In September 1908 the Academy received the right to give the scientific degree – the doctor of veterinary medicine and for special services –
honorary doctorate (doctor honoris causa). From 1909 Rector was elected among the professors of the Academy for two years. Józef Szpilman (1855–1920) was the first rector of Lviv Veterinary Academy. Before
World War I at the Academy worked such famous professors as Stanisław Królikowski, Włodzimierz Kulczycki (Volodymyr Kulchytskyj), Zygmunt Markowski, Paweł Kretowicz and Teofil Hołobut. In 1917 Volodymyr Kulchytskyj became the
Rector. He was the first Ukrainian rector of the Academy, a man of the encyclopedic knowledge, well-known anatomist and orientalist. On December 12, 1922 the Academy received the name Academy of Veterinary Medicine in Lwów () that lasted till the outbreak of
World War II (1939). Professor Wacław Moraczewski (1867–1950) took a special place in the history of the Academy. He was a famous Polish
biochemist, talented academic and public figure, literature critic, expert in arts and music and a sportsman. He had a great impact on the Ukrainian writer
Vasyl' Stefanyk. He also made a great influence on scientific progress of Ukrainian scientist S. Gzhytskyj (1900–1976) and the University was named in his honour. In the aftermath of the
Soviet invasion of Poland (1939) the Academy of Veterinary Medicine in Lwów was renamed Lviv Veterinary Institute. Professor Ivan Chynchenko (1905–1993) became the first Soviet director of the institute. He was a famous scientist. Both important and dramatic was war and post war times. German administration turned Lviv higher schools into professional courses to lower the quality of
Slavic specialists. After the completion of these courses a certificate was given instead of a diploma. The directors of these courses were Otto Habersang and Prof. Uergen Witte. After the unsuccessful
Lwów uprising (1944) and the subsequent
incorporation of the territories of Poland by the Soviet Ukraine (1945) the institution of higher education resumed its scientific activity as a Soviet institute. In 1945 the Academy of Veterinary Medicine in Lwów was transferred from Lwów to
Wrocław, Poland, and nowadays it operates as
Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences. In 1949 the second faculty was opened – Zootechnical (since 1956 – Zooingineering, since 2003 – the faculty of Biology and Technology). In times of an independent Ukraine such faculties were founded: in 1991 – Sanitary and Technological Faculty, in 2004 – the Faculty of Food Technologies, in 2002 – the Faculty of Economics and Management. Furthermore, these the Faculty of Extramural Education, the centre of artistic selfactivity and the institute of
Post-Graduate education are actively working here. In 1992 Lviv Academy of Veterinary Medicine regained its former name. In 2003 the Academy assumed the status "National" and was named after its student and then worker – the chief of Biochemistry Department, prominent scientist, and corresponding member of NAS and an academician of Ukrainian Agricultural Academy professor Stepan Gzhytskyj (1994). An academic council regained its right to assign the honorary status of a doctor (1998). ==Campuses and buildings==