University professor fired in Odesa because of exam papers in Russian

A professor at the Odesa National Technological University was fired following the results of state control over violations of language legislation.

According to the press service of the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, the professor was teaching classes and writing exam papers in Russian.

Two days ago, a representative of the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, Anna Nerush, reported a complaint from a student about such actions.

"We promptly initiated state control measures and sent a corresponding letter of demand to the university," the representative of the Commissioner said.

In its response, the university said that it had conducted an internal investigation into the professor's violation of language legislation, which confirmed the facts stated in the complaint. The professor explained the use of Russian by problems with his computer and the fact that he had given students old tickets to prevent disruption of the session. He also argued that he used Russian because he answered the students in the language of their requests.

"The vice-rector of the university was present at the review of the state control materials. It was a difficult but substantive conversation. We talked in general about the language situation at the university. We agreed to have a joint meeting with students and faculty of the university," emphasized Anna Nerush.

In 2025, nearly 6,000 violations of language legislation were recorded in Odesa and more than 1,700 Russian-language advertising structures were dismantled. In turn, Olha Lozova, Deputy Head of the Odesa City Military Administration, called on Odesa residents to join this work and organize a flash mob to replace Russian-language inscriptions with Ukrainian ones in their own space.

Кирило Бойко