At the end of the 18th century, educational institutions focused on navigation and naval architecture were established, first in Kherson and later in Mykolaiv. The Mykolaiv City Council repeatedly addressed the issue of establishing technical education institutions in southern Ukraine in the late 19th century, but due to various objective and subjective reasons, these attempts proved unsuccessful. Initially, instead of Mykolaiv, a higher educational institution was established in Odesa (1865), then in Kharkiv (1868), and in Warsaw (1898). In 1897–1900, new factories were built in Mykolaiv to implement the program for the construction of an armored fleet. This created a need to train a large number of mid-level technical specialists.

To address this challenge, a secondary school of mechanical engineering was established in 1902. Konstantin Petrovich Boklevsky, a shipbuilding engineer of the time and one of the pioneers of the science of ship design, played an active role in its founding.

In 1917, the Secondary School of Mechanics and Technology was reorganized into the Mykolaiv Polytechnic School. In 1920, during the reorganization of the Soviet public education system, the Mykolaiv Polytechnic School was transformed into the K. Timiryazev Technical College with the status of a higher educational institution, and its graduates were awarded the qualification of engineer. In 1925, the Polytechnic Technical School was reorganized into an industrial technical school, and in 1927, it became a shipbuilding technical school.

In 1929, the Mykolaiv Shipbuilding Technical School was merged with the Mykolaiv Evening Workers’ Technical School. The institution was renamed the Mykolaiv Machine-Building Institute, which was renamed the Mykolaiv Shipbuilding Institute (MSI) in 1930.

By a decision of the Soviet government in 1949, the MKI was named after Admiral S. I. Makarov—a native of Mykolaiv, a renowned naval architect and admiral.

In 1994, by a decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Admiral S. Y. Makarov Maritime Institute received the highest (fourth) level of accreditation, university status, and the name Ukrainian State Maritime Technical University (USMTU). Given the national and international recognition of the achievements of the Admiral Makarov Ukrainian State Maritime Technical University, and its significant contribution to the development of national education and science, a decree of the President of Ukraine dated March 25, 2004, granted the university national status and renamed it the “Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding.”

The Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding is the only institution of higher education in Ukraine that trains specialists for the shipbuilding, marine engineering, mechanical engineering, energy, and maritime sectors of Ukraine and other countries in accordance with international standards and requirements. This is evidenced by the university’s receipt in 2014 of international and national quality certificates for specialist training—ISO 9001:2008 and DSTU ISO 9001:2009—from the world leader among certification bodies, Bureau Veritas Certification Ukraine. The company conducts an annual surveillance audit of the NUK quality management system, and in 2017, the university successfully passed a certification audit for compliance with the requirements of the new edition of the ISO 9001:2015 standard, pursuant to which the Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding Makarov received certificates of conformity to ISO 9001:2015 (No. UA228700) and DSTU ISO 9001:2015 (No. UA228701), valid until February 8, 2021.

Over its 100-year history, the university has trained more than 100,000 specialists for the domestic and international shipbuilding industries. Currently, the Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding comprises: comprises: 5 institutes, 4 faculties, the Kherson and Pervomaisk branches, 4 educational and research centers, the Shipbuilders’ College and the Pervomaisk College, 2 overseas educational and consulting centers, the multidisciplinary Professor Alexandrov Maritime Lyceum, and the Academy of Midshipmen. More than 7,500 students study at Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding across 14 fields of study and 29 specializations. The university provides training for highly qualified engineering and scientific personnel—junior specialists, junior bachelors, bachelors, full-time and part-time master’s students, PhDs, and candidates of sciences.

The educational process at Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding is supported by 49 departments, which employ 541 faculty members, including 63 Doctors of Science, 90 professors, 276 Candidates of Science, and 270 associate professors. Among higher education institutions with III-IV levels of accreditation in the Mykolaiv region, Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding has for many years held a leading position in terms of the number of students, majors, faculty members with academic degrees and titles, scientific schools, and areas of scientific research.

The university has established and successfully operates an infrastructure for planning and conducting scientific research, which is based on: the university’s Scientific and Expert Council, scientific and technical councils for specific research areas, and 15 research schools, including “Research on Seaworthiness and Design of New Types of Vessels,” “Fuel Preparation and Combustion,” “Vacuum Pressure Soldering and Welding,” “Environmental Safety and Energy Conservation,” “Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology,” “Promising Energy Technologies,” “Gas-Thermal Coatings,” and “Management of Knowledge-Intensive Production Projects.” Seven industry-specific laboratories and six scientific and technical centers are well-known in Ukraine and beyond, including centers for metrological certification of polymetric systems, underwater technology, energy conservation, and environmental safety.

The university has four academic buildings, including a campus located in the green area of the peninsula between the Ingul and Southern Bug rivers, two sports and recreation complexes, three student dormitories, and two residential buildings, all of which provide facilities for study, sports, cultural enrichment, scientific and intellectual development, recreation, and personal hobbies for the entire 9,000-member community. The university also has a student self-government association. On the Black Sea coast, directly within the region’s resort areas (in the city of Ochakiv and the village of Kobleve), there are comfortable university recreation centers for students and university staff.