The history of Donetsk Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (DLI ) started in April 28, 1961, when it was a Primary Professional School of Militia.

Primary Professional School of Militia, 1961 

After the tragic events in Donbass in July 2014, Donetsk Law Institute was replaced from Donetsk to Mariupol, of Donetsk Region, to Mariupol School of Professional Training of Police Officers.  In October 2014, according to the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Institute was reorganized in the city of Kryvyi Rih and hosted by the Center of Specializations of the Dnipropetrovsk State University of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

Donetsk Law Institute of MIA of Ukraine, Donetsk, 2014

In March 2015, the City Council of Kryvyi Rih provided DLI with three buildings where were located the educational campuses (classrooms, assembly hall, library, dining room, 2 sports halls and playgrounds, shooting gallery) and a student’s hostel.

Donetsk Law Institute of MIA of Ukraine, Kryvyi Rih, 2017 

The Danish Refugee Council and the German Federal Volunteer Society for International Cooperation “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit” kindly assisted to repair the buildings.

Donetsk Law Institute of MIA of Ukraine, Kryvyi Rih, 2017 

The Institute received the status of a temporarily replaced institution according to the Law of Ukraine dated on November 03, 2016 No. 1731-VIII “On Amending Certain Laws of Ukraine regarding the Activities of Higher Education Institutions, Scientific Institutions Displaced from Temporarily Occupied Territory and from Settlements where the authorities temporarily do not perform their duties.”

Since November 2016, the Institute started to perform fill educational service in Mariupol. On May 16, 2017, thanks to the kind initiative of the mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boichenko Donetsk Law institute was provided with three buildings that required reconstruction in order to start the educational process and accommodate students and cadets.

Donetsk Law Institute of MIA of Ukraine, Mariupol, 2017 

For the present moment our institute geographically is located in two biggest regions of Ukraine: in Dnipropetrovsk region, in the city of Kryvyi Rih, and in Donetsk region, in the city of Mariupol.

Donetsk Law Institute of MIA of Ukraine, Mariupol, 2017 

Until July 2014, the Donetsk Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine structurally consisted of 6 faculties, 22 departments, research centers and laboratories. After 2014, the structure of the institute was optimized: there were 5 departments and a research laboratory, total number of staff was 251 positions.

For the last five years, taking into account the provision of recruitment and the expansion of activities, the structure of the institute has increased and now consists of: 4 faculties, 16 departments, a research laboratory on problematic issues of law enforcement; Academy of Police; Postgraduate school and Doctoral studies.

According to the Concept of Education Reform in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, on the basis of the Mariupol Training Center for Police officers, a new structural unit has been created at the Institute - the Academy of Police in Mariupol, a Primary Training Center for police officers of the National Police of Ukraine.

By June 2020, the Institute provides more than 450 positions. There are 20 Doctors of Sciences, 70 Candidates of Sciences (Doctors of Philosophy), most of the scientists are graduators of our educational institution. For the present moment, the Donetsk Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine educates:

• Qualified Police Officers,
• Bachelors
• Masters
• Doctors of Philosophy
• Doctors of Science

in the specialties: “Law”, “Law Enforcement Activities”, “Public Administration and Management”, “Economics”, “Economic Security”.

Since its foundation, the Institute carried out 59 graduations, more than 33400 graduators received diplomas of higher education. Even during the forced resettlement of the activities to Kryvyi Rih and Mariupol, already 1185 students and cadets have successfully graduated from the Institute.

The Institute is actively developing, at the present moment more than 2200 students and cadets from 18 regions of Ukraine and from the city of Kiev are studying in the Donetsk Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

DLI provides a full cycle of training from the profession “Police Officer” to Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Sciences.

Therefore, there are postgraduate study in six legal specialties and doctoral studies in four legal specialties, there are 2 Specialized Academic Councils.

Education for PhD for the specialty 081 “Law” is in following scientific specialties: 

12.00.01 - Theory and History of State and Law; History of Political and Legal Studies;

12.00.04 - Commercial Law; Economic Law;

12.00.05 - Labor Law; Social protection Law;

12.00.07 - Administrative Law and processes; Financial Law; Information Law;

12.00.08 - Criminal Law and criminology; Criminal Law;

12.00.09 - Criminal process and Criminology; Forensic analysis; Law Enforcement and Investigative Activity;

Studies are provided on state order base (free of charge) and on commercial base, when expenses for tuition are covered by trainee. Forms of study - full-time (term of study 2 years for doctoral, three years for PhD).

We are hardly working over the restoration of library funds cooperating with other universities, scientific institutions, and leading scientists. We managed to restore the library fund with a total volume of 111 thousand copies today (this is 2/3 of the volume that the Institute had in 2014).

Graduators of the DLI are in great demand in the domestic labor market. However, we shall notice that they are hired not only by law enforcement agencies of Ukraine. Also, law firms, enterprises, institutions and organizations of various forms of ownership are interested in our graduators for high-quality legal support of their activities.

For the present moment the Institute cooperates with 16 partners from 14 states: the Federal Republic of Germany, the Hellenic Republic, the Czech Republic, Romania, the People's Republic of China, Slovakia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Moldova, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Estonia and the Republic of Georgia.

Since 2018 DLI is a full member of the Board of Directors of the European Public Law Organization. It should be noted that only the Donetsk Law Institute was awarded such a privilege from the system of higher educational institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.