The Department of Journalism and Social Communications of the Faculty of Information and Applied Technologies, Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University is the graduation department of the “Journalism” specialty. 

Since 2001, the department has been carrying out licensed admission and training of students for the Bachelor’s degree, and since 2005 – for the Master’s degree as well. 

During the period of its existence, the department managed to take a strong position in the scientific space of Ukraine, train a lot of high-class media professionals, and create a stable positive image for itself in Ukraine and beyond. Since October 2014, the Department of Journalism (since 2021 the Department of Journalism and Social Communications) of Vasyl Stus DonNU has carried out its educational and scientific activities in the city of Vinnytsia, where the Donetsk National University was evacuated after the armed seizure of its facilities in Donetsk by the militants of the so-called DPR. 

In 2015, the Department opened an additional educational program – a Master’s degree for bachelors from another field of knowledge. Over the years of its existence, the Department has acquired extensive educational and methodological experience and scientific potential. 

In 2022, Serhii Bondarenko, the head of the Department, and candidate of political sciences, joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Currently, the duties of the head of the Department are performed by a candidate of philosophical sciences, Associate Professor Kostiantyn Rodyhin. 

In 2008, the Department of Journalism became the winner of the All-Ukrainian mass media competition “Higher School” held by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, in which it received the Second Degree Diploma and the silver medal of the All-Ukrainian competition. According to the results of the National rating of journalism education quality in Ukraine, conducted by the NGO “Detector Media” (2016), the Department took 6th place in Ukraine among universities teaching students a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism.  

An important achievement of the Department was the publication in 2015 of the collection “Stories of non-separatists” (the editor-compiler – the head of the Department, candidate of philological sciences, assistant professor Olena Taranenko) with the support of the NGO “VIS’” and the “Ukrainian Women’s Fund”, and “Donbas – Arena of war” (editor-compiler Olena Taranenko), the publication of which was carried out within the framework of the company “To Hear – to Understand – to Get Along” together with the NGO “VIS’” within the framework of the project “Promoting pluralism and dialogue in Ukrainian society”, which was implemented by the Eastern Europe Foundation. Also, in 2016-2017, two collections of stories of internally displaced persons, “Unfortunate? Invincible!” with the support of the Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, whose editor was Iryna Chernychenko, a senior lecturer at the Department of Journalism. It is worth noting that most of the authors of these books are teachers and graduates of the Department.  

The lecturers and professors of the Department are constantly improving and initiating new projects for students.  

In 2020, the staff of the department joined the Journalism Teachers’ Academy program with the support of DW Akademie, where they learned new distance learning tools.  

In March 2022, the journalism students Olena Prysiazhniuk and Valeriia Polishchuk, as well as professor Nataliia Steblyna, participated in round tables on the reception of a full-scale war in Ukraine in the media, organized by the University of Alberta (Canada). Also, the students of the Department became contributors to the Ukrainian Quarterly magazine of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.  

In 2023, the Department of Journalism and Social Communications became a partner of the “Window to Europe” Euroclub within the framework of the “Chas.Opys” project, which is carried out with the support of the EU Representation in Ukraine. Together with the NGO “Vinnytsia Press Club”, the Department conducts an information campaign to raise the level of media literacy in schools of the region. As part of the “Stus School of Media Literacy” project, students and teachers of the Department created 20 educational videos and conducted more than 30 lessons on media literacy for schoolchildren in Vinnytsia and the region. 

Since September 2023, the Department has been implementing joint activities together with the City University of London within the framework of the Memorandum signed between the Vasyl Stus DonNU and the British university.