Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University, located in Odessa, Ukraine, is one of the country's major universities, named after the scientist Élie Metchnikoff (who studied immunology, microbiology, and evolutionary embryology), a Nobel prizewinner in 1908.
The university was founded in 1865, by an edict of Tsar Alexander II of Russia reorganizing the Richelieu Lyceum of Odessa into the new Imperial Novorossiya University.
In the Soviet era, the University was renamed Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University (literally, \"Odesa National University named after I. I. Mechnikov\").
During the century and a half of its existence, the University has earned the reputation of being one of the best educational institutions in Ukraine.
The excellence of the University is also recognized outside Ukraine; Odesa National University is one of the highest-ranked universities in the world, occupying 48th place in one rating of universities worldwide.
Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University comprises four institutes, ten faculties, and seven specialized councils. The University is famous for its scientific library, the largest and oldest of any university in Ukraine (3,600,000 million volumes, ranging from the 15th century to the present day).
