Vilniaus pedagoginio universiteto Istorijos fakulteto dėstytojų mokslinė veikla 1944-2000 metais
| Date |
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2007 |
Straipsnyje nuosekliai apžvelgiama Vilniaus pedagoginio universiteto Istorijos fakulteto dėstytojų mokslinė veikla nuo fakulteto įsikūrimo pradžios 1944 metais iki 2000 metų. Bandoma aptarti ir įvertinti dėstytojų indėlį į bendrą Lietuvos istorijos mokslą įvairiais fakulteto gyvavimo laikotarpiais. Atkreipiamas dėmesys ir į visuotinės istorijos problemų mokslinio tyrinėjimo ištakas bei pirmuosius bandymus. Išskiriami dėstytojų moksliniai interesai ir katedrose besiformuojančios mokslinių tyrimų kryptys.
It is important to note that faculty academics' researches were of individual character because the faculty had no possibilities to organize and conduct its own post-graduate (later PhD) studies. Consequently, they had to pursue those research areas which were established and confirmed at other educational institutions, e.g. History Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Vilnius V. Kapsukas' University, Moscow or Leningrad Universities; later, joint PhD studies with Vytautas Magnus University, Institute of Lithuanian History and Vilnius University were undertaken. Under the pressure of contemporary requirements, many faculty academics attained habilitation and, on the basis of the theses written as a part of their habilitation, published scientific studies. The faculty can also boast of famous historians who worked here at one time or another, among them being Rokas Varakauskas, Abelis Stražas, Leonas Bičkauskas-Gentvila, Michaelis Heltzeris, Aldona Gaigalaitė, Mykolas Michelbertas, Alfonsas Eidintas, Liudas Truska, and many others. With the restoration of Independence, four departments were established in the Faculty of History, i.e. the Department of Lithuanian History, the Department of World History, The Department of the Baltic Prohistory and the Department of Didactics of History. Consequently, scientific research spheres had to be revised and defined to suit the departments' aims and objectives: as a result, some researchers could not "squeeze" into the defined areas, and their researches acquired a cross-departmental character. The authors are of the opinion that closer cooperation among departments was necessary to ensure better scientific results and internal collaboration among the departments in different subjects of history science.
When the Faculty of History was reestablished at Vilnius Pedagogical Institute (VPI) in post-war Lithuania, its lecturers, in a few years' period, started publishing their research articles in the periodical press and, later, in scholarly journals. These publications proved that faculty academics, who mainly were the faculty's graduates, became mature for scientific research; on the other hand, the authorities of the Institute, faculty and departments, such as the Department of the History of the USSR, World history, etc, expressed strong opinion that every academic had to combine pedagogical and scientific research activities. The quality of researches and their results were, to a great extent, influenced by the then political situation in Lithuania and a researcher's political beliefs and positions. Only after the restoration of Independence the questions researched became more varied and interesting, and the researchers themselves acquired fairer conditions for the interpretation and evaluation of certain historical facts. It should be rightly mentioned that almost all faculty academics had their areas of research and published articles in Lithuania's, the then Soviet Union's and, later, foreign scholarly journals; they participated in scientific conferences in Lithuania and worldwide. The preparation and publication of teaching books and manuals for the students and secondary school pupils was an inalienable part of their work; in addition, they organized students' scientific conferences. Despite the fact that some people were more prolific in their scientific activities, VPI (later - Vilnius Pedagogical University (VPU)) lecturers in the scope of their researches and pedagogical activities did not yield to the history lecturers from other universities. Mention should be made that a heavy teaching load and busy schedules sometimes negatively influenced scientific researches.