Professor Vitalii Demianchuk
News
BSU awards Honorary Doctorate of Education to esteemed Ukrainian Professor
Tuesday, 3 February, 2026Bath Spa University is proud to announce the awarding of an Honorary Doctorate in Education to Professor Vitalii Demianchuk, Rector of Academician Stepan Demianchuk International University of Economics and Humanities, Rivne, Ukraine, a key partner for BSU.
Professor Demianchuk has been Rector of International University of Economics and Humanities (IUEH), a private university in the west of Ukraine, since 2020. Although his first degree was in Finance, he trained and qualified as a lawyer. Having taken his first degree at IUEH, he became head of its Department of Criminal Law and Justice at the university in 2010, before being appointed Vice-Rector in 2013.
Under Professor Demianchuk’s leadership, IUEH has proven itself to be a pioneering private university, actively embracing European pedagogical and scholarly standards in order to ensure innovative teaching and research. He successfully steered IUEH through the COVID pandemic and has provided staunch leadership since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Although Rivne is not close to the Russian front-line, it is only 80 miles from the border with Belarus and the region is subject to regular attacks, particularly on its infrastructure. Nonetheless, IUEH has continued to operate effectively throughout the war. Its founding commitment to the value of peace, education and democracy underpins its institutional ethos, and it continues to celebrate its annual ‘I vote for Peace’ ceremony, first established in 1996.
Receiving the award at our February 2026 graduation ceremonies, Professor Demianchuk said:
“It is a great honour for me to be here with you today in Bath, at the university that is a centre of culture, science, and development, and to receive an Honorary Doctorate. I deeply appreciate this high award and recognition from Bath Spa University. I accept it on behalf of our university community, Ukrainian scientists, teachers, and students who, despite the dark times for Ukraine, continue to serve science, teach, and learn. Working with such people is a privilege for which I am grateful.”
Professor Demianchuk’s relationship with Bath Spa University dates to 2019 when he travelled to Bath as part of the Erasmus-funded DESTIN project that sought to transform journalism education and media literary in Ukraine. IUEH's progressive approach to pedagogy, its dynamic institutional character, and its academic strengths made it a natural partner for Bath Spa University as part of the Universities UK’s 2022 initiative to twin UK and Ukraine universities.
Bath Spa University and IUEH signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding in June 2022 and have collaborated closely ever since.
Interested in BSU's ongoing partnerships in Ukraine? Read more about how Bath Spa University has been working closely with universities in Ukraine for over a decade.